{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,29]],"date-time":"2026-07-29T19:52:54Z","timestamp":1785354774485,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":53,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,25]],"date-time":"2021-05-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1621900800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Medical Sciences"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women, with alarming mortalities. Neoadjuvant treatments employ chemotherapy to shrink tumours to a well-defined size for a better surgical outcome. The current means of assessing effectiveness of chemotherapy management are imprecise. We previously showed that breast cancer patients have higher serum circulating cell-free DNA concentrations. cfDNA is degraded cellular DNA fragments released into the bloodstream. We further report on the utility of cfDNA in assessing the response to chemotherapy and its potential as a monitoring biomarker. A total of 32 newly diagnosed and treatment-naive female breast cancer patients and 32 healthy females as controls were included. Anthropometric, demographic and clinicopathological information of participants were recorded. Each participant donated 5 mL of venous blood from which sera were separated. Blood sampling was carried out before the commencement of chemotherapy (timepoint 1) and after the third cycle of chemotherapy (timepoint 2). qPCR was performed on the sera to quantify ALU 115 and 247 levels, and DNA integrity (ALU247\/ALU115) was determined. ALU 115 and 247 levels were elevated in cancer patients but were significantly decreased after the third cycle of chemotherapy (T2) compared to T1. DNA integrity increased after the third cycle. Serum cfDNA may provide a relatively inexpensive and minimally invasive procedure to evaluate the response to chemotherapy in breast cancer.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/medsci9020037","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,25]],"date-time":"2021-05-25T22:02:23Z","timestamp":1621980143000},"page":"37","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["Reduced Serum Circulation of Cell-Free DNA Following Chemotherapy in Breast Cancer Patients"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"9","author":[{"given":"Evelyn","family":"Adusei","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Anatomy, University of Ghana Medical School, University of Ghana, Accra P.O. Box GP 4236, Ghana"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0617-5210","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"John","family":"Ahenkorah","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Anatomy, University of Ghana Medical School, University of Ghana, Accra P.O. Box GP 4236, Ghana"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nii Armah","family":"Adu-Aryee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Surgery, University of Ghana Medical School, University of Ghana, Accra P.O. Box GP 4236, Ghana"},{"name":"Department of Surgery, Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Korle Bu, Accra P.O. Box 77, Ghana"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3731-3399","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kevin Kofi","family":"Adutwum-Ofosu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Anatomy, University of Ghana Medical School, University of Ghana, Accra P.O. Box GP 4236, Ghana"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7179-1872","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Emmanuel Ayitey","family":"Tagoe","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, School of Biomedical and Allied Health Sciences, University of Ghana, Accra P.O. Box KB 143, Ghana"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nii Koney-Kwaku","family":"Koney","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Anatomy, University of Ghana Medical School, University of Ghana, Accra P.O. Box GP 4236, Ghana"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Emmanuel","family":"Nkansah","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Anatomy, University of Ghana Medical School, University of Ghana, Accra P.O. Box GP 4236, Ghana"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nii Ayite","family":"Aryee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical Biochemistry, University of Ghana Medical School, University of Ghana, Accra P.O. Box GP 4236, Ghana"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5356-4323","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Richard Michael","family":"Blay","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Anatomy, University of Ghana Medical School, University of Ghana, Accra P.O. Box GP 4236, Ghana"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0286-473X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Bismarck Afedo","family":"Hottor","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Anatomy, University of Ghana Medical School, University of Ghana, Accra P.O. Box GP 4236, Ghana"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0497-071X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Joe-Nat","family":"Clegg-Lamptey","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Surgery, University of Ghana Medical School, University of Ghana, Accra P.O. Box GP 4236, Ghana"},{"name":"Department of Surgery, Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Korle Bu, Accra P.O. Box 77, Ghana"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6429-2186","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Benjamin","family":"Arko-Boham","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Anatomy, University of Ghana Medical School, University of Ghana, Accra P.O. Box GP 4236, Ghana"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1941","DOI":"10.1002\/ijc.31937","article-title":"Estimating the global cancer incidence and mortality in 2018: GLOBOCAN sources and methods","volume":"144","author":"Ferlay","year":"2019","journal-title":"Int. J. 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