Abstract Emerging technologies for detection of circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) are expanding the possibilities for clinical impact to patients with localized, potentially curable cancer. For such patients, ctDNA analysis could aid in prognostication, prediction of treatment response, longitudinal monitoring for adaptive treatment, and evaluation of minimal residual disease. Radiation oncologists currently have few tools at their disposal for predicting or rapidly assessing treatment efficacy. By reflecting the genetic and epigenetic makeup of tumours as well as dynamic changes with treatment, ctDNA as a biomarker for radiation response could enable new personalized treatment approaches. In this review, we will discuss recent advances in ctDNA technologies and potential clinical applications of ctDNA analysis throughout the therapeutic course. Furthermore, we will consider how ctDNA analysis could someday guide radiotherapy prescriptions by revealing differences in tumour radiophenotype.

Abstract In this work, we introduce, to our knowledge, a new set of adhesion-based biomarkers for characterizing mammalian cells. Mammalian cell adhesion to the extracellular matrix influences numerous physiological processes. Current in vitro methods to probe adhesion focus on adhesive force to a single surface, which can investigate only a subcomponent of the adhesive, motility, and polarization cues responsible for adhesion in the 3D tissue environment. Here, we demonstrate a method to quantify the transhesive properties of cells that relies on the microscale juxtaposition of two extracellular matrix-coated surfaces. By multiplexing this approach, we investigate the unique transhesive profiles for breast cancer cells that are adapted to colonize different metastatic sites. We find that malignant breast cancer cells readily transfer to new collagen I surfaces, and away from basement membrane proteins. Integrins and actin polymerization largely regulate this transfer. This tool can be readily adopted in cell biology and cancer research to uncover, to our knowledge, novel drivers of adhesion (or de-adhesion) and sort cell populations based on complex phenotypes with physiological relevance.

In various malignancies RNA fragments are dysregulated. Our study was designed to determine the expression of 4, 5′-tRNA halves in the tissue and serum of patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma.