Correlative Indexes in Prediction of Survival in Refractory Metastatic Lung Adenocarcinoma. The Role of Liquid Biopsy to Assess Survival

In refractory metastatic lung adenocarcinoma, liquid biopsy can provide valuable insights into survival, particularly in identifying resistance mechanisms and monitoring treatment response. For example, circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) and circulating tumor cells (CTCs) can reveal EGFR mutation status. Heterogenous tumors are defined based on their genomic signature consisting of a variety of biomarkers. Aa major problem, remains as we are unable to translate a “target response” to a “clinical response”. This problem would be even further complicated by implementing targeted therapies that can cause resistance by inducing mutations in the DNA as well as enhancing the process called “selective advantage” of the resistant cells. Since the resistance of the tumor correlates with the patient’s survival, using liquid biopsy can detect early resistance and therefore predict prognosis.