Prognostic Role of Specific <i>KRAS</i> Mutations Detected in Aspiration and Liquid Biopsies from Patients with Pancreatic Cancer
Hálková et al.
The finding, in our words
Plasma circulating tumour DNA from patients with advanced pancreatic cancer showed that those carrying the KRAS G12D mutation survived a median of 27 days versus 161 days for non-carriers, demonstrating that decentralised liquid biopsy can stratify prognosis. The G12R mutation was associated with nearly double the survival, confirming mutation-specific analysis of ctDNA is feasible and clinically valuable for patient management.
A paraphrase to the Library’s standard, never the abstract. The source is one link away and is always the authority.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, 218 home-based liquid biopsies for cancer patients in Italy achieved a 98 per cent success rate, saving patients 495 hours and the National Health Service €51,574 compared with hospital testing. The service delivered substantial time and cost benefits for patients, caregivers and healthcare providers, supporting its integration into routine oncological practice.
Fingerstick capillary blood achieved 100% concordance with venous blood for detecting circulating tumour DNA mutations in metastatic breast cancer after whole-genome amplification, although allele frequencies showed some variation. This provides evidence that less-invasive capillary sampling could enable longitudinal cancer surveillance and theranostic monitoring.
Gyanchandani et al., Scientific reports · source ↗
Urine trans-renal DNA and plasma circulating tumour DNA showed concordant dynamics that paralleled clinical course in a metastatic colorectal cancer patient treated with an ALK inhibitor. Urine-based detection of the CAD-ALK rearrangement anticipated radiological confirmation of disease progression, demonstrating that self-collected urine can non-invasively monitor tumour evolution and emerging resistance mutations during therapy.
Siravegna et al., Annals of oncology : official journal of the European Society for Medical Oncology (paywalled) · source ↗
The True Dose TD-EPI kit demonstrated strong analytical agreement with venous blood for epirubicin monitoring, and the capillary samples remained stable for 72 hours at ambient temperature.
A 2025 review maps 28 microsampling devices, from dried spots and volumetric absorptive tips to upper-arm liquid capillary collectors, and names what a laboratory must control before their results are used: the haematocrit effect in non-volumetric dried samples, interstitial fluid from finger milking, volume, haemolysis and transport stability. Regulators on both sides of the Atlantic ask for the same two things, a device the patient can use safely and a sample fit for the test.