Non-invasive Monitoring of Cancer Progression

Dear colleague,

Cancer is a clonal disease characterized by genomic heterogeneity. While the initiating events occur in a single cell, additional events bestow it with a survival advantage, giving rise to a progeny of cells with the same genomic footprint. Over time, these cells undergo clonal evolution and expansion under the selective pressure of genomic instability, immune surveillance and exposure to therapies. The accumulation of additional genomic events, for example, mutations, copy number alterations and translocations, as well as epigenetic changes, can be tracked by studying tumor biopsies over the course of therapy. The extensive characterization of tumor genomes in recent years has demonstrated that incurable cancer is not a single disease entity, but rather a family of related cells that can rapidly adapt to prevent cell death.

While much has been learned by studying cancer genomes from tumor tissue, minimally invasive strategies of monitoring the presence of tumor and tumor evolution are needed. Cancer cells and/or their DNA, referred to as circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), can be readily detected in peripheral blood. The presence of residual cancer cells, or minimal residual disease (MRD) after therapy is not only prognostic, but in some circumstances, can change clinical management. 

This Special Issue of Cancers will highlight the different approaches used in the non-invasive monitoring of cancer progression. 

Dr. Nathalie A. Johnson
Guest Editor

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