Liquid biopsies come of age: towards implementation of circulating tumour DNA

Circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) analysis has the potential to improve prognostication, molecular profiling and disease monitoring in patients with cancer. This Review summarizes recent advances, potential applications in cancer research and personalized oncology, and the introduction of ctDNA into clinical use. Improvements in genomic and molecular methods are expanding the range of potential applications for circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA), both...