TY - JOUR
T1 - Variant allele frequency
T2 - a decision-making tool in precision oncology?
AU - Boscolo Bielo, Luca
AU - Trapani, Dario
AU - Repetto, Matteo
AU - Crimini, Edoardo
AU - Valenza, Carmine
AU - Belli, Carmen
AU - Criscitiello, Carmen
AU - Marra, Antonio
AU - Subbiah, Vivek
AU - Curigliano, Giuseppe
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2023/12
Y1 - 2023/12
N2 - Precision oncology requires additional predictive biomarkers for targeted therapy selection. Variant allele frequency (VAF), measuring the proportion of variant alleles within a genomic locus, provides insights into tumor clonality in somatic genomic testing, yielding a strong rationale for targeting dominant cancer cell populations. The prognostic and predictive roles of VAF have been evaluated across different studies. Yet, the absence of validated VAF thresholds and a lack of standardization between sequencing assays currently hampers its clinical utility. Therefore, analytical and clinical validation must be further examined. This Review summarizes the evidence regarding the use of VAF as a predictive biomarker and discusses challenges and opportunities for its clinical implementation as a decision-making tool for targeted therapy selection.
AB - Precision oncology requires additional predictive biomarkers for targeted therapy selection. Variant allele frequency (VAF), measuring the proportion of variant alleles within a genomic locus, provides insights into tumor clonality in somatic genomic testing, yielding a strong rationale for targeting dominant cancer cell populations. The prognostic and predictive roles of VAF have been evaluated across different studies. Yet, the absence of validated VAF thresholds and a lack of standardization between sequencing assays currently hampers its clinical utility. Therefore, analytical and clinical validation must be further examined. This Review summarizes the evidence regarding the use of VAF as a predictive biomarker and discusses challenges and opportunities for its clinical implementation as a decision-making tool for targeted therapy selection.
KW - biomarker qualification
KW - precision oncology
KW - predictive biomarker
KW - targeted therapy
KW - variant allele frequency
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85171775401&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85171775401&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.trecan.2023.08.011
DO - 10.1016/j.trecan.2023.08.011
M3 - Review article
C2 - 37704501
AN - SCOPUS:85171775401
SN - 2405-8033
VL - 9
SP - 1058
EP - 1068
JO - Trends in Cancer
JF - Trends in Cancer
IS - 12
ER -