Abstract:
Breast cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors in women, and its incidence is increasing year by year. Due to the complex heterogeneity within breast cancer, higher requirements are put forward for individualized diagnosis, treatment and monitoring. In recent years, invasive procedures have been gradually replaced by non-invasive procedures in the diagnosis of diseases, and the advent and development of liquid biopsy has promoted the process of precision diagnosis and treatment in the field of clinical oncology. Liquid biopsy is the detection of tumor markers through blood or other body fluid samples, including but not limited to circulating tumor cells (CTC), circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) and extracellular vesicles (EV). Liquid biopsy has gradually been widely applied in clinical practice because of its convenience of sampling, continuity of monitoring and accuracy of individual diagnosis and treatment. This article reviews the progress of liquid biopsy in breast cancer in recent years, and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of liquid biopsy compared with traditional tissue biopsy.