{"id":7721,"date":"2025-07-01T12:29:01","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T19:29:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metastatictrialtalk.org\/?p=7721"},"modified":"2025-07-01T12:29:01","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T19:29:01","slug":"liquid-biopsy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breastcancertrialtalk.org\/?p=7721","title":{"rendered":"Understanding Liquid Biopsies for MBC"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #333333;\"><span style=\"color: #333333;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-7696 size-medium alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/breastcancertrialtalk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/AdobeStock_322101536-1-300x200.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"color: #333333;\">Blood tests called liquid biopsies can detect circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) and circulating tumor cells (CTCs). CTCs are tumor cells that came from a tumor and are now moving (circulating) through the blood. ctDNA are small pieces of DNA from cancer cells that are released into the blood. In clinical trials, researchers are studying what ctDNA and CTC testing results can tell them about MBC and how to treat it.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #333333;\">Click the links below to learn more about these blood tests and how they are being used in MBC.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h6><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"color: #333333;\"><b>Introduction to ctDNA and CTC Testing<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/h6>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"color: #333333;\">Medline Plus:<\/span> <span style=\"color: #339966;\"><a style=\"color: #339966;\" href=\"https:\/\/medlineplus.gov\/genetics\/understanding\/testing\/circulatingtumordna\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ctDNA is found in the blood and can be used to detect cancer, guide treatment decisions, and monitor response to treatment<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"color: #333333;\">Living Beyond Breast Cancer:<\/span> <span style=\"color: #339966;\"><a style=\"color: #339966;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lbbc.org\/about-breast-cancer\/testing\/biomarker\/ctc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The amount of CTCs in the blood may help find out if cancer is spreading or not responding to treatment<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"color: #333333;\">Cancer Today:<\/span> <span style=\"color: #339966;\"><a style=\"color: #339966;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cancertodaymag.org\/spring-2025\/liquid-biopsies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Liquid biopsy results come back faster than tissue biopsy results and can be used when a tissue biopsy can\u2019t be done or doesn\u2019t give clear answers<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h6><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #333333;\"><b>Research on CTC Testing for MBC<\/b><\/span><\/h6>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"color: #333333;\">Breast Cancer (journal article):<\/span> <span style=\"color: #339966;\"><a style=\"color: #339966;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41523-024-00706-7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">High numbers of CTCs predict a poor outcome in MBC. Using CTC testing to select treatment in MBC is an active area of research in clinical trials<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h6><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #333333;\"><b>Research on ctDNA Testing for MBC<\/b><\/span><\/h6>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"color: #333333;\">ASCO Post:<\/span> <span style=\"color: #339966;\"><a style=\"color: #339966;\" href=\"https:\/\/ascopost.com\/news\/april-2025\/survival-outcomes-may-improve-when-treatment-is-guided-by-using-both-tissue-and-liquid-biopsies\/?utm_source=TAP%2DEN%2D042925&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=09792f0fd4b3ef2cd56e9dd83ab5495c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Clinical trial results presented at ASCO 2025 show that survival outcomes may improve when both tissue and liquid biopsies are used to make treatment decisions<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"color: #333333;\">Living Beyond Breast Cancer:<\/span> <span style=\"color: #339966;\"><a style=\"color: #339966;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lbbc.org\/news\/new-breast-cancer-drug-camizestrant-shows-better-outcomes-with-early-esr1-detection-asco-2025\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Results from the SERENA-6 clinical trial presented at ASCO 2025 show that switching to camizestrant after detecting an ESR1 mutation using ctDNA testing improves MBC outcomes<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h6><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #333333;\"><b>Standard of Care for ctDNA Testing in MBC<\/b><\/span><\/h6>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"color: #333333;\">Breastcancer.org:<\/span> <span style=\"color: #339966;\"><a style=\"color: #339966;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.breastcancer.org\/screening-testing\/liquid-biopsy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ctDNA testing can find mutations that are only in cancer cells and can help select treatments<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"color: #333333;\">Breastcancer.org:<\/span> <span style=\"color: #339966;\"><a style=\"color: #339966;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.breastcancer.org\/news\/esr1-testing-recommended\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ctDNA testing for a mutation in ESR1 can help select treatment with elacestrant (Orserdu\u00ae) in estrogen receptor-positive MBC<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"color: #333333;\">Breastcancer.org:<\/span> <span style=\"color: #339966;\"><a style=\"color: #339966;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.breastcancer.org\/treatment\/targeted-therapy\/piqray\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ctDNA testing for a mutation in PIK3CA can help select treatment with alpelisib (Piqray\u00ae) in hormone receptor-positive MBC<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"color: #333333;\">Oncology Nursing News:<\/span><span style=\"color: #339966;\"> <a style=\"color: #339966;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.oncnursingnews.com\/view\/nccn-guidelines-now-include-neratinib-for-metastatic-breast-cancer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ctDNA testing for mutations in HER2 can help select treatment with neratinib (Nerlynx\u00ae) in HER2-positive MBC<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h6><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #333333;\"><b>MBC Clinical Trials<\/b><\/span><\/h6>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"color: #333333;\">Metastatic Trial Search:<\/span> <span style=\"color: #339966;\"><a style=\"color: #339966;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.breastcancertrials.org\/bct_nation\/mts\/mtsResult.seam?zip=94107&amp;yob=0&amp;searchTerm1=ctc&amp;radiusMiles=-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Trials for CTC Testing<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"color: #333333;\">Metastatic Trial Search:<\/span> <span style=\"color: #339966;\"><a style=\"color: #339966;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.breastcancertrials.org\/bct_nation\/mts\/mtsResult.seam?zip=94107&amp;yob=0&amp;searchTerm1=ctdna&amp;radiusMiles=-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Trials for ctDNA Testing<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"color: #333333;\">Metastatic Trial Search:<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breastcancertrials.org\/bct_nation\/mts\/mtsResult.seam?zip=94107&amp;yob=0&amp;filterCategory=GENETICS&amp;radiusMiles=-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #339966;\">Trials for Genetic and Biomarker Testing<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A liquid biopsy is a blood test that looks for cancer cells or pieces of cancer DNA. Researchers are studying how to use liquid biopsies to learn about and treat MBC. Learn more here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7703,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_block_theme_hide_title":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[17,24,30,42,62,73,76],"class_list":{"0":"post-7721","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-research-news","8":"tag-areas-of-research","9":"tag-cancer-treatment-planning","10":"tag-clinical-trial-terms","11":"tag-genetics-genomics","12":"tag-navigating-cancer-care","13":"tag-research-news","14":"tag-screening-and-testing","16":"with-featured-image"},"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/breastcancertrialtalk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/AdobeStock_322101536-1-1.png","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/breastcancertrialtalk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/AdobeStock_322101536-1-1.png","author_info":{"display_name":"bctt","author_link":"https:\/\/breastcancertrialtalk.org\/?author=1"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/breastcancertrialtalk.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/breastcancertrialtalk.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/breastcancertrialtalk.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breastcancertrialtalk.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breastcancertrialtalk.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/breastcancertrialtalk.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breastcancertrialtalk.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/breastcancertrialtalk.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breastcancertrialtalk.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breastcancertrialtalk.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}