Liquid biopsy in non-small cell lung cancer: come of age

With understanding of lung cancer biology and advances in technology, treatment for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is currently guided according to the genetic abnormalities, including epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation, translocation in ALK, ROS1 or RET, B-raf mutation, etc. In the treatment of EGFR-mutated NSCLC, EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) are recommended as first-line therapy based on high response rates and longer progression free survival (PFS) compared to platinum-doublet chemotherapy (1-3).