The K-MASTER project: innovative Cancer Precision Medicine initiative using liquid biopsy

Abstract

Current molecular diagnostics in cancer patients is based on tumor biopsies, which, however, face serious limitations which can lead to false decisions. Distant metastases can harbor unique genomic characteristics not detectable in the corresponding primary tumor of the same patient and metastases show a considerable intra-patient heterogeneity. Tumor- derived cell-free DNA (cfDNA), which is released from both primary and metastatic cancer lesions, also offers non-invasive diagnosis. Several investigational studies have shown that, despite the highly-variable cfDNA level across different cancer patients, the level within the same patient correlates well with the disease progression. Besides, recent studies have used sequential cfDNA assessments to unravel the emergence of resistant tumor cell clones in cancer patients receiving systemic therapy.In 2017, Korean Precision Medicine Enterprise are composed of Cancer Diagnosis & Treatment (K-MASTER) Enterprise was launched. The details of Korean Precision Medicine Enterprise project, which is an innovative initiative of Precision Medicine using liquid biopsy in Korea, will be discussed.