What is circulating DNA?
Within every organ of the body, within a developing fetus, or within a tumor that may be growing somewhere, cells are continuously dividing while others are continuously dying. As cells die, they first break up their long DNA molecules into shorter fragments and a portion of these fragments find their way into the blood stream. All together, this mixture of DNA in blood plasma, so called circulating DNA, contains genetic information from all cell types of the body. Among the many DNA fragments are those that carry recognizable signatures that identify their origin such as an undiagnosed tumor.
