Fig. 1: The study design and its objectives. | Nature Communications

Fig. 1: The study design and its objectives.

From: ctDNA detectability and representativeness in seven body liquids from patients with metastatic breast cancer

Fig. 1

Twenty patients underwent a rapid autopsy within our post-mortem tissue donation program UPTIDER (NCT04531696). The list of body liquids is presented. Peripheral blood is sampled from a peripheral vein. Central blood is taken within the right atrium of the heart (at autopsy) or through a port-a-cath (pre and post-mortem). Liquid samples are collected during the metastatic disease, at post-inclusion and at autopsy. Of note, a few samples were also available at primary breast cancer diagnosis. Post-inclusion sampling occurs first upon signature of the informed consent form, second whenever possible when sampling is required for the treatment of the patient. Tumor tissue samples available during life of the patient are retrospectively collected and tumor tissue lesions are extensively collected at autopsy. The copy number profile obtained by the low-pass whole genome sequencing allows to determine the ploidy of the sample. If the profile is not diploid, ctDNA is considered present. Samples containing tumor are used to build phylogenetic reconstructions. Part of the liquid samples taken at autopsy are further processed with whole exome sequencing to obtain mutational data. Created in BioRender. Created in BioRender. Desmedt, C. (2025). https://BioRender.com/fldnmsf. ctDNA circulating tumor DNA, Met metastatic.

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