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Review
. 2023 Aug 10:14:1172108.
doi: 10.3389/fgene.2023.1172108. eCollection 2023.

Minimal residual disease (MRD) detection in solid tumors using circulating tumor DNA: a systematic review

Lemei Zhu  1   2   3 , Ran Xu  4 , Leilei Yang  4 , Wei Shi  4 , Yuan Zhang  1   2   3 , Juan Liu  1   2   3 , Xi Li  5 , Jun Zhou  1   2 , Pingping Bing  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Minimal residual disease (MRD) detection in solid tumors using circulating tumor DNA: a systematic review

Lemei Zhu et al. Front Genet. .

Abstract

Minimal residual disease (MRD) refers to a very small number of residual tumor cells in the body during or after treatment, representing the persistence of the tumor and the possibility of clinical progress. Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is a DNA fragment actively secreted by tumor cells or released into the circulatory system during the process of apoptosis or necrosis of tumor cells, which emerging as a non-invasive biomarker to dynamically monitor the therapeutic effect and prediction of recurrence. The feasibility of ctDNA as MRD detection and the revolution in ctDNA-based liquid biopsies provides a potential method for cancer monitoring. In this review, we summarized the main methods of ctDNA detection (PCR-based Sequencing and Next-Generation Sequencing) and their advantages and disadvantages. Additionally, we reviewed the significance of ctDNA analysis to guide the adjuvant therapy and predict the relapse of lung, breast and colon cancer et al. Finally, there are still many challenges of MRD detection, such as lack of standardization, false-negatives or false-positives results make misleading, and the requirement of validation using large independent cohorts to improve clinical outcomes.

Keywords: CtDNA; MRD; NGS; biomarker; tumor.

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Conflict of interest statement

Authors LZ, YZ, JL were employed by Geneis Beijing Co. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
ctDNA during cancer progression. Detection of ctDNA is achieved by liquid biopsy, which allows monitoring and adjunctive treatment of MRD.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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Grants and funding

The work was supported by the Hunan Provincial Education Commission Foundation (19B068,20A056,20C0202, 22C0669); The Hunan Provincial Health Commission Foundation (No.202112041226, D202302088596); the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Base of Public Health and Preventive Medicine (Hunan Education Bureau Notice 2019 No.333-93); and the Funding by young backbone teachers of Hunan province training program foundation of Changsha Medical University (Hunan Education Bureau Notice 2021 No.29-26).

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