AFP and cancer: Unfortunately, the diagnostic efficacy of traditional markers, such as AFP, was not satisfactory.3 In recent years, multiple studies have used circulating free DNA (cfDNA) from the blood of pancreatic and colorectal cancer patients to identify tumor-specific mutations as cancer markers.4,5 However, cfDNA originates from dead cells in damaged tissue or accumulates as a result of physiological cell turnover.6,7 This may lead to reduced sensitivity of cfDNA bio-markers and make the identification of cancer-specific mutations more challenging.