Mori Shunsuke, Yatabe Yasushi
Rinsho Byori. 2016 May;64(4):407-411.
Liquid biopsy is defined as a non-invasive blood test that detects features of tumor cells, which are shed into the blood stream from the primary tumor and/or metastatic sites. This method is developing based on research on circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and the circulating free/fragments of tumor DNA (cfDNA). CfDNA can be detected in the absence of detectable CTCs, and has been shown to increase with the disease condition. The detection of cfDNA can be used for tumor genotyping, monitoring of the tumor burden, and monitoring minimal residual diseases, and recent results showed that cfDNA is a highly specific biomarker with intermediate sensitivity. Liquid biopsy with cfDNA is promising, and is becoming an alternative to re- biopsy. However, there are some caveats: it has not been elucidated which patients and tumor types can be accessed with cfDNA. Further research is warranted.
液体活检被定义为一种非侵入性血液检测，可检测肿瘤细胞的特征，这些肿瘤细胞从原发性肿瘤和/或转移部位进入血流。该方法是基于对循环肿瘤细胞（CTC）和肿瘤DNA循环游离片段（cfDNA）的研究而发展起来的。在没有可检测到的CTC的情况下也能检测到cfDNA，并且已证明其会随着疾病状况而增加。cfDNA的检测可用于肿瘤基因分型、肿瘤负荷监测和微小残留病监测，最近的结果表明cfDNA是一种具有中等敏感性的高度特异性生物标志物。基于cfDNA的液体活检前景广阔，正成为重复活检的一种替代方法。然而，有一些注意事项：尚未阐明哪些患者和肿瘤类型可以通过cfDNA进行检测。需要进一步研究。
