Liquid biopsy: Opportunities and Challenges for Clinical Translation in Breast cancer
Join Professor Sarah-Jane Dawson as she presents the current approaches and challenges related to ctDNA analysis, together with an overview of clinical applications for the use of liquid biopsies in breast cancer management.
Cell-free circulating DNA containing tumor-specific sequences can be identified in the plasma of cancer patients, providing a liquid biopsy alternative to tissue biopsies for monitoring cancer changes over time.
Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) analysis allows personalised disease monitoring of tumor dynamics and treatment response from a simple blood test that is easy to perform at regular intervals during therapy. Serial analysis of ctDNA provides a unique opportunity to study the evolving genomic landscape of a cancer during therapy, identify the early emergence of treatment resistance and guide targeted therapeutic decisions.
A summary of current approaches and challenges related to ctDNA analysis will be presented in this session, together with an overview of clinical applications for the use of liquid biopsies in breast cancer management.
Professor Sarah-Jane Dawson is a clinician-scientist at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and Centre for Cancer Research University of Melbourne. She is the co-program head of the Cancer Biology and Therapeutics Program, Group leader of the Molecular Biomarkers and Translational Genomics Laboratory and Medical Oncologist in the Breast Unit. Her current research interests are focused on the development of noninvasive blood-based biomarkers ('liquid biopsies') for clinical application, including early detection, risk stratification and disease monitoring in cancer management.