Clinical Significance of Circulating Cell-Free Mitochondrial DNA in Breast Cancer Patients

Abstract

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among women. Its detection and treatment in early stages allow the decrease in morbidity and the increase in the survival rate. However, despite the advances and new strategies for combining surgical, radiotherapy and chemotherapy options, the percentage of patients developing metastases and progressing to advanced stages remains high. Thus, more reliable methods are needed for earlier detection of breast cancer than the common clinical methods to start early treatment. Serum tumor markers have been commonly used for the diagnosis of breast cancer as CEA, CA15.3 and steroid receptor status. Unfortunately, they cannot adequately identify early stage patients. So, other non-invasive biomarkers should be used, with higher sensitivity for early detection of breast cancer. Current evidence suggests that mitochondrial function