Fernández-Lázaro Diego, García Hernández Juan Luis, García Alberto Caballero, Córdova Martínez Alfredo, Mielgo-Ayuso Juan, Cruz-Hernández Juan Jesús
Department of Cellular Biology, Histology and Pharmacology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Valladolid, Campus de Soria, 42003 Soria, Spain.
Cancer Research Centre, University of Salamanca, 37007 Salamanca, Spain.
Diagnostics (Basel). 2020 Apr 13;10(4):215. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics10040215.
In recent years, there has been an increase in knowledge of cancer, accompanied by a technological development that gives rise to medical oncology. An instrument that allows the implementation of individualized therapeutic strategies is the liquid biopsy. Currently, it is the most innovative methodology in medical oncology. Its high potential as a tool for screening and early detection, the possibility of assessing the patient's condition after diagnosis and relapse, as well as the effectiveness of real-time treatments in different types of cancer. Liquid biopsy is capable of overcoming the limitations of tissue biopsies. The elements that compose the liquid biopsy are circulating tumor cells, circulating tumor nucleic acids, free of cells or contained in exosomes, microvesicle and platelets. Liquid biopsy studies are performed on various biofluids extracted in a non-invasive way, and they can be performed both from the blood and in urine, saliva or cerebrospinal fluid. The development of genotyping techniques, using the elements that make up liquid biopsy, make it possible to detect mutations, intertumoral and intratumoral heterogeneity, and provide molecular information on cancer for application in medical oncology in an individualized way in different types of tumors. Therefore, liquid biopsy has the potential to change the way medical oncology could predict the course of the disease.
近年来，人们对癌症的了解不断增加，同时技术的发展催生了医学肿瘤学。液体活检是一种能够实施个体化治疗策略的手段。目前，它是医学肿瘤学中最具创新性的方法。其作为筛查和早期检测工具的潜力巨大，能够在诊断和复发后评估患者状况，还能体现不同类型癌症实时治疗的效果。液体活检能够克服组织活检的局限性。构成液体活检的要素包括循环肿瘤细胞、游离于细胞外或包含在外泌体、微泡和血小板中的循环肿瘤核酸。液体活检研究针对以非侵入性方式提取的各种生物流体进行，血液、尿液、唾液或脑脊液均可用于检测。利用构成液体活检的要素开发的基因分型技术，能够检测突变、肿瘤间和肿瘤内的异质性，并为不同类型肿瘤的医学肿瘤学个体化应用提供癌症分子信息。因此，液体活检有可能改变医学肿瘤学预测疾病进程的方式。
