Abstract

Genotyping tumour tissue in search of somatic genetic alterations for actionable targets in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients has become routine practice in clinical oncology to deliver optimal treatment to selected patients. Sampling tumour tissue is subject to selection bias resulting from tumour heterogeneity, and can be difficult to obtain. A key challenge is the development of predictive biomarkers which could be less invasive than a biopsy and more informative of tumour heterogeneity. Circulating tumour cells (CTCs) have emerged as potential biomarkers in several cancers, with a correlation between CTC number and patient prognosis. The detection and enumeration of CTCs is still a developing field. We evaluated whether specific molecular abnormalities could be performed by using circulating tumour cells.