Asymmetrical barcode adapter-assisted recovery of duplicate reads and error correction strategy to detect rare mutations in circulating tumor DNA

Deep sequencing is required for the highly sensitive detection of rare variants in circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA). However, there remains a challenge for improved sensitivity and specificity. Maximum-depth sequencing is crucial to detect minority mutations that contribute to cancer progression. The associated costs become prohibitive as the numbers of targets and samples increase. We describe the targeted sequencing of KRAS in plasma samples using an efficient barcoding approach to recover discarded reads marked as duplicates. Combined with an error-removal strategy, we anticipate that our method could improve the accuracy of genotype calling, especially to detect rare mutations in the monitoring of ctDNA.