Emerging Role of Genomics and Cell-Free DNA in Breast Cancer

Abstract

Precision Medicine is gaining momentum as the future gold standard healthcare strategy as it enables treatment optimization and consequently a potential improvement for quality of life and survival. This paradigm shift was possible thanks to new high-throughput genomics technologies, which provide prognostic and predictive information on tumor biology and potential treatment options, as standard pathological procedures are unable to capture both spatial and temporal tumor heterogeneity. As a result of decreasing costs, both solid and liquid-based genomics have an increasingly important role in clinical trials’ screening procedures and are gradually being incorporated into clinical practice. Notwithstanding the great potential, its clinical utility is still a matter of debate and clinicians need to be aware of caveats in interpreting resulting data.