MINI REVIEW article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Breast Cancer
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1634859
This article is part of the Research TopicLiquid Biopsy and Circulating Tumor DNA Assays in the Management of Breast CancerView all 4 articles
Liquid Clues: Tracking Early-Stage Breast Cancer with ctDNA - A Mini Review
Provisionally accepted
- Levine Cancer Institute, Charlotte, United States
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is a testing modality that has several potential applications in the management of non-metastatic breast cancer. In this mini review, we discuss its role in early detection, treatment response assessment, and surveillance for minimal residual disease (MRD). We also review technological advances that may increase assay sensitivity.Finally, we highlight key prospective therapeutic intervention trials that evaluate the incorporation of ctDNA into clinical management of early breast cancer.
Keywords: CtDNA, early breast cancer (EBC), MRD - minimal residual disease, personalized medicine, recurrence risk
Received: 25 May 2025; Accepted: 11 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Easaw, Hsu, Steuerwald and Heeke. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Arielle L Heeke, Levine Cancer Institute, Charlotte, United States
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.