Non-invasive multi-cancer detection using DNA hypomethylation of LINE-1 retrotransposons.

Purpose: The detection of circulating tumor DNA, which allows non-invasive tumor molecular profiling and disease follow-up, promises optimal and individualized management of patients with cancer. However, detecting small fractions of tumor DNA released when the tumor burden is reduced remains a challenge.

Experimental Design: We implemented a new highly sensitive strategy to detect base-pair resolution methylation patterns from plasma DNA and assessed the potential of hypomethylation of LINE-1 retrotransposons as a non-invasive multi-cancer detection biomarker.

Circulating tumor cells in breast cancer: clinical validity and utility.

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) have been extensively studied in breast cancer (BC), with large studies establishing CTCs as a robust prognostic biomarker in early and metastatic breast cancer (MBC). Several phase II and phase III trials have investigated the clinical utility of CTCs in BC. Here, we outline the current landscape for the use of CTCs in the clinic at different stages of BC, focusing first on early BC, then on MBC, with a particular focus on interventional clinical trials based on CTCs.

[Triple negative breast cancer: Current status and perspectives].

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is defined by the absence of expression of estrogen and progesterone receptors, as well as the absence of overexpression of HER2. Accounting for 10 to 15% of breast cancers, it remains characterized by an aggressive phenotype with an increased risk of early recurrence and overall survival less favorable compared to other subtypes. The challenges in management and therapeutic evolution are likely related to the demonstrated high biological heterogeneity of this subtype.

Benefit of systemic therapy in MINDACT patients with small, ER-positive, HER2-negative breast cancers.

Small, hormone receptor-positive (HR+), HER2-negative (HER2-), lymph node-negative breast cancers are associated with relatively low rates of disease recurrence and have therefore been underrepresented in clinical trials assessing the effects of systemic therapy. Consequently, it remains uncertain if this patient population derives benefit from these treatments. For this exploratory analysis, we selected MINDACT (NCT00433589) patients with a HR+, HER2-, T1ab (≤1 cm) tumor and negative lymph nodes.