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Cancer Diagnosis Using a Liquid Biopsy: Challenges and Expectations.

Francesc Castro GinerSofia GkountelaCinzia DonatoIlaria AlborelliLuca QuagliataCharlotte C K NgSalvatore PiscuoglioNicola Aceto
Published in: Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) (2018)
The field of cancer diagnostics has recently been impacted by new and exciting developments in the area of liquid biopsy. A liquid biopsy is a minimally invasive alternative to surgical biopsies of solid tissues, typically achieved through the withdrawal of a blood sample or other body fluids, allowing the interrogation of tumor-derived material including circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) fragments that are present at a given time point. In this short review, we discuss a few studies that summarize the state-of-the-art in the liquid biopsy field from a diagnostic perspective, and speculate on current challenges and expectations of implementing liquid biopsy testing for cancer diagnosis and monitoring in the clinical setting.
Keyphrases
  • circulating tumor
  • circulating tumor cells
  • ultrasound guided
  • papillary thyroid
  • fine needle aspiration
  • ionic liquid
  • minimally invasive
  • cell free
  • squamous cell
  • childhood cancer
  • case control
  • quality improvement