BioMed Research International

Review Article

Plasma Circulating Tumor DNA Levels for the Monitoring of Melanoma Patients: Landscape of Available Technologies and Clinical Applications

Table 1

Overview of techniques used for detection and quantification of plasma ctDNA for melanoma patients. PCR: polymerase chain reaction; AS-PCR: allele-specific PCR; ARMS: amplification refractory mutation system allele-specific PCR; MS-PCR: mutant-specific PCR with fluorescent detection; CastPCR: competitive allele-specific PCR; CTCs: circulating tumor cells; Bi-PAP: mutation-specific bidirectional pyrophosphorolysis-activated polymerization; ddPCR: droplet digital PCR; BEAMing: beads, emulsification, amplification, and magnetics; NGS: next generation sequencing; WES: whole exome sequencing.
MethodGene (mutation)Analytical sensitivity (% of mutated copies)References
Quantitative real-time clamp reverse transcription PCRBRAF (p.V600E)0.001%[17]
AS-PCR or ARMSBRAF (p.V600E/K/D)0.1%[3]
AS-PCR or ARMSBRAF (p.V600E)0.3%[18]
AS-PCR or ARMSBRAF (p.V600E)0.25%[9]
AS-PCR or ARMSBRAF (p.V600E)2.0%[19]
ARMSBRAF (p.V600E)
BRAF (p.V600D)
BRAF (p.V600K)
BRAF (p.V600R)		1.82%
3.19%
4.34%
4.85%		[20]
MS-PCRBRAF (p.V600E)0.01%[21]
RT-PCR + restriction enzyme digestionBRAF (p.V600E)0.1%[22, 23]
ddPCR on DNA from CTCBRAF (p.V600E)
BRAF (p.V600K)		0.0005% after WGA enrichment[24]
CastPCR on DNA from CTCBRAF (p.V600E)
BRAF (p.V600K)		0.1% after WGA enrichment[24]
CastPCRBRAF (p.V600E)0.5%[25]
Bi-PAPGNAQ (c.626A>T)
GNAQ (c.626A>C)
GNA11 (c.626A>T)		~0.05%[26, 27]
ddPCRBRAF (p.V600E)0.005%[28]
ddPCRBRAF (p.V600E)
BRAF (p.V600K)
NRAS (p.Q61H)		0.01%[29]
ddPCRBRAF (p.V600E)
BRAF (p.V600K)
NRAS (p.Q61K)
NRAS (p.Q61R)		0.01%[30]
AS-PCR or ARMSBRAF (p.V600E)0.005%[18]
AS-PCRBRAF (p.V600E/E2/D/K/R/M)0.01%[31]
BEAMing technologyBRAF (p.V600E)
BRAF (p.V600K)		 [32]
BEAMing technologyBRAF (p.V600E)
NRAS (p.Q61K)
NRAS (p.Q61R)		<0.01%[33]
BEAMing technologyBRAF (p.V600E)
BRAF (p.V600K)		0.01%[34]
PCR+NGSTERT promoter<0.1%[33]
NGS (WES)Exome [35]