Noor Jawad, Chaudhry Ahtshamullah, Noor Riwad, Batool Saima
Internal Medicine, St. Dominic Hospital, Jackson, USA.
Medicine/Public Health, Nishtar Hospital, Multan, PAK.
Cureus. 2023 Jul 31;15(7):e42731. doi: 10.7759/cureus.42731. eCollection 2023 Jul.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), nearly 10 million people died from cancer worldwide in 2020, making it the leading cause of mortality. Liquid biopsies, which provide non-invasive and real-time monitoring of tumor dynamics, have evolved into innovative diagnostic techniques in the field of oncology. Liquid biopsies offer important insights into tumor heterogeneity, treatment response, minimum residual disease identification, and personalized treatment of cancer through the analysis of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), circulating tumor cells (CTCs), extracellular vesicles, and microRNAs. They offer several advantages over traditional tissue biopsies, such as being less invasive, more convenient, more representative of tumor heterogeneity and dynamics, and more informative for guiding personalized treatment decisions. Liquid biopsies are being utilized increasingly in clinical oncology, particularly for patients with metastatic disease who require ongoing monitoring and treatment modification. In this narrative review article, we review the latest developments of liquid biopsy technologies, their applications and limitations, and their potential to transform diagnosis, prognosis, and management of cancer patients.
根据世界卫生组织（WHO）的数据，2020年全球近1000万人死于癌症，使其成为主要死因。液体活检能够对肿瘤动态进行非侵入性实时监测，已发展成为肿瘤学领域的创新诊断技术。通过分析循环肿瘤DNA（ctDNA）、循环肿瘤细胞（CTC）、细胞外囊泡和微小RNA，液体活检为肿瘤异质性、治疗反应、最小残留疾病识别和癌症个性化治疗提供了重要见解。与传统组织活检相比，它们具有几个优点，如侵入性更小、更方便、更能代表肿瘤异质性和动态，以及在指导个性化治疗决策方面更具信息性。液体活检在临床肿瘤学中的应用越来越多，特别是对于需要持续监测和调整治疗的转移性疾病患者。在这篇叙述性综述文章中，我们回顾了液体活检技术的最新进展、其应用和局限性，以及它们在改变癌症患者诊断、预后和管理方面的潜力。
