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Prospects and challenges of circulating tumor DNA in precision medicine of hepatocellular carcinoma

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Abstract

The growing role of precision medicine in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is expected to ameliorate the poor prognosis and high mortality of this highly malignant disease; however, it is faced with challenges such as the low frequency of tissue biopsy. Hence, attention is turning to the circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), an important component of liquid biopsy. Obtaining molecular information about cancer from blood provides a good prospect in precision oncology including molecular diagnosis, molecular classification, targeted therapy, personalized decision making, and detection of drug-resistance mutations. However, inherent constraints of HCC and ctDNA (like background chronic liver diseases (CLD) and low concentration of ctDNA) along with some technical issues should be well handled and solved before the potential of ctDNA in precision medicine of HCC can be truly realized. In this review, we will focus on the prospects and challenges of ctDNA in HCC precision medicine.

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Funding

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81472672), International Science and Technology Cooperation Project of Shanghai (18410721900), and Leading Talent Program of Minhang District (2017).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Liver Surgery and Transplantation, Liver Cancer Institute, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China

    Jialei Weng, Manar Atyah, Chenhao Zhou & Ning Ren

  2. Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Cancer Invasion of Ministry of Education, Shanghai, China

    Jialei Weng, Manar Atyah, Chenhao Zhou & Ning Ren

  3. Department of Surgery, Minhang Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, 201199, China

    Ning Ren

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  1. Jialei Weng
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  2. Manar Atyah
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  3. Chenhao Zhou
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  4. Ning Ren
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NR had the idea for the article. JLW performed the literature search and data analysis. JLW, MA, and CHZ wrote the manuscript. JLW designed the tables and figures. NR critically revised the work.

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Correspondence to Ning Ren.

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Weng, J., Atyah, M., Zhou, C. et al. Prospects and challenges of circulating tumor DNA in precision medicine of hepatocellular carcinoma. Clin Exp Med 20, 329–337 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10238-020-00620-9

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