Liquid biopsy analysis in cancer diagnostics.

Special issue “Liquid biopsy analysis in cancer diagnostics” published in Molecular Aspects of Medicine edited by Anders Ståhlberg, Mikael Kubista, Daniel Andersson now available.

The benefits and potential utility of liquid biopsy analysis in cancer diagnostics and treatments have garnered large interest in recent years (Fig. 1). Clinically, most molecular analyses in cancer diagnostics are currently performed using tissue biopsies. One major limitation with this approach is that repeated sampling over time is generally not feasible. Furthermore, patient condition and tumor location may prohibit tissue biopsy sampling. Invasive tissue biopsies are also associated with adverse side effects, including the risks of tumor dissemination, infections and bleeding. In addition, due to tumor heterogeneity, tissue biopsies may fail to reveal essential clinical properties. All these issues can potentially be addressed using liquid biopsies…. For more read: Editorial: Liquid biopsy analysis in cancer diagnostics or Circulating miRNA analysis for cancer diagnostics and therapy.

Fig. 1. Number of publications per year with the search term ‘“liquid biopsy” OR “liquid biopsies” AND “cancer”’ at PubMed, 19 December 2019.