A droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) ESR1 circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) assay can support targeted therapies and treatment monitoring by providing sensitive, quantitative detection of ESR1 mutations in plasma (For Research Use Only; not for diagnostic purposes).
An assay that incorporates multiple prevalent ESR1 variants could help predict resistance to endocrine therapy and guide selection of targeted drugs.
A highly multiplexed liquid biopsy assay implemented on platforms such as the QX600 ddPCR system could enable non-invasive, near real-time monitoring of tumor evolution and inform timely treatment switches to more effective options, with the potential to improve patient outcomes.
Circulating nucleic acids and liquid biopsies are expected to continue expanding in the diagnostic space after substantial gains over the past decade, with applications accelerating in the coming years.
Molecular detection is likely to grow beyond single-nucleotide variants to include more complex alterations such as copy number amplifications, deletions, and gene fusions, including RNA variants.
Future workflows will adopt a multiomic approach that combines ctDNA with circulating tumor cells, exosomes, fragmentomics, methylation markers, and protein and RNA biomarkers such as fusion transcripts and microRNAs.
Assay menus and technologies are anticipated to become more sensitive and cost-effective through advances in scaling and miniaturization, including microfluidics and nanotechnology.
Advances in circulatory biomarkers are expected to integrate with existing blood and tissue markers to enable earlier cancer detection and near real-time monitoring of treatment response.
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