Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39754401›Full record

ArticleMolecular oncology2025

Detection rate for ESR1 mutations is higher in circulating-tumor-cell-derived genomic DNA than in paired plasma cell-free DNA samples as revealed by ddPCR.

Stavroula Smilkou, Aliki Ntzifa, Victoria Tserpeli, Ioanna Balgkouranidou, Alkistis Papatheodoridi, Evangelia Razis, Helena Linardou, Christos Papadimitriou, Amanda Psyrri, Flora Zagouri and 2 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Molecular oncology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Review
  4. Exploration of targeted anti-tumor therapy · 2026
    Review
  5. The Combined Assessment of CTC andInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2025
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

12 authors.

Stavroula SmilkouAnalysis of Circulating Tumor Cells Lab, Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of Athens, Greece.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5338-0276
Aliki NtzifaAnalysis of Circulating Tumor Cells Lab, Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of Athens, Greece.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5598-5447
Victoria TserpeliAnalysis of Circulating Tumor Cells Lab, Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of Athens, Greece.
Ioanna BalgkouranidouDepartment of Medical Oncology, University General Hospital of Alexandroupolis, Greece.
Alkistis PapatheodoridiDepartment of Clinical Therapeutics, School of Medicine, Alexandra Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
Evangelia RazisHygeia Hospital, Athens, Greece.
Helena LinardouOncology Unit, Metropolitan Hospital, Athens, Greece.
Christos PapadimitriouOncology Unit, Aretaieion University Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece.
Amanda PsyrriDepartment of Medical Oncology, Second Department of Internal Medicine, "Attikon" University General Hospital, Athens Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece.
Flora ZagouriDepartment of Clinical Therapeutics, School of Medicine, Alexandra Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
Stylianos KakolyrisDepartment of Medical Oncology, University General Hospital of Alexandroupolis, Greece.
Evi LianidouAnalysis of Circulating Tumor Cells Lab, Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of Athens, Greece.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7796-5914

Funding

Research-Create-Innovate
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Plasma cell-free DNA (cfDNA) analysis to track estrogen receptor 1 (ESR1) mutations is highly beneficial for the identification of tumor molecular dynamics and the improvement of personalized treatments for patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC). Plasma-cfDNA is, up to now, the most frequent liquid biopsy analyte used to evaluate ESR1 mutational status. Circulating tumor cell (CTC) enumeration and molecular characterization analysis provides important clinical information in patients with MBC. In this study, we investigated whether analysis of CTCs and circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) provide similar or complementary information for the analysis of ESR1 mutations. We analyzed both plasma-cfDNA (n = 90) and paired CTC-derived genomic DNA (gDNA; n = 42) from 90 MBC patients for seven ESR1 mutations. Eight out of 90 (8.9%) plasma-cfDNA samples tested using the ddPLEX Mutation Detection Assay (Bio-Rad, Hercules, CA, USA), were found positive for one ESR1 mutation, whereas 11/42 (26.2%) CTC-derived gDNA samples were found positive for at least one ESR1 mutation. Direct comparison of paired samples (n = 42) revealed that the ESR1 mutation rate was higher in CTC-derived gDNA (11/42, 26.2%) than in plasma-cfDNA (6/42, 14.3%) samples. Our results, using this highly sensitive ddPLEX assay, reveal a higher percentage of mutations in CTC-derived gDNAs than in paired ctDNA in patients with MBC. CTC-derived gDNA analysis should be further evaluated as an important and complementary tool to ctDNA for identifying patients with ESR1 mutations and for guiding individualized therapy.

Indexed as

Breast NeoplasmsCell-Free Nucleic AcidsCirculating Tumor DNAEstrogen Receptor alphaMutationNeoplastic Cells, CirculatingPolymerase Chain ReactionAdultAgedAged, 80 and overFemaleHumansMiddle AgedCell-Free Nucleic AcidsCirculating Tumor DNAESR1 protein, humanEstrogen Receptor alphabreast cancercirculating tumor cellscirculating tumor DNAdroplet digital PCRESR1 mutationsliquid biopsyplasma cell‐free DNA

Identifiers

PMID39754401
PMCPMC12234389

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.