Advances in cancer early diagnosis with liquid biopsy-based approaches

• 作者: Wei Zhang
• 来源期刊: 癌症转移与治疗（英文版）
• 年，卷（期）: 2021,（4）
• 所属期刊栏目: Original Article
• 页码范围: 70-72
• 页数: 3页
• 语种: 英文
• DOI: 10.20517/2394-4722.2021.82

摘要

Significant progress in cancer diagnosis and treatment has contributed to improved clinical outcomes for many cancers. However, cancer remains a major world-wide health problem with an estimated 19.3 million new cases and almost 10.0 million cancer deaths in 2020[1]. Early detection of malignant tumors that are still treatable (e.g., surgical removal) is key to lowering cancer-related mortality and improving patient survival. Compared to tissue-based cancer diagnosis approaches that may be limited by the issue of tumor heterogeneity, accessibility to a tumor, and possible complications associated with the biopsy procedure, approaches targeting liquid biopsies such as blood, urine, cerebrospinal fluid, saliva, and sweat have been demonstrated for their clinical potential as a noninvasive or minimally-invasive alternative. Specifically, tumor-derived mutational, epigenetic, and transcriptomic features are contained in liquid biopsies collected from a patient, providing the basis for developing effective diagnostic biomarkers from these specimens. Of note, during the past few years, exciting technical advances have emerged to allow profiling various molecular targets in a variety of clinical specimens. In this special issue of "Liquid Biopsies in Cancer Early Diagnosis", six reviews and original articles showcased the current advances in this fast-developing field of research.