Current and future applications of biomarkers in samples collected through minimally invasive methods for cancer medicine and population‐based research

Abstract

Despite advances in cancer medicine and research, invasive and potentially risky procedures such as biopsies, venous blood tests, imaging, colonoscopy, and pap smear tests are still primarily used for screening, staging, and assessing response to therapy. The development and interdisciplinary use of biomarkers from urine, feces, saliva, scent, and capillary blood collected with minimally invasive methods represents a potential opportunity for integration with biomarker analysis for cancers, both in clinical practice (e.g., in screening, treatment, and disease monitoring, and improved quality of life for patients) and population-based research (e.g., in epidemiology/public health, studies of social and environmental determinants, and evolutionary medicine). In this article, we review the scientific rationale, benefits, challenges, and potential opportunities for measuring cancer-related biomarkers in samples collected through minimally invasive methods.

Review—Aptamers and Biomimetic Receptors in Biosensing: Innovations and Applications

“…Applications include evaluating medicine levels in patient samples, identifying infectious infections, and finding cancer biomarkers. 143 These cutting-edge biosensors are essential to early diagnosis, individualised care, and disease monitoring in the medical field, all of which lead to better patient outcomes. 144 Environmental monitoring.-With its potent tools for the identification and measurement of pollutants, toxins, and other environmental analytes, the application of aptamers and biomimetic receptors in biosensing has revolutionised the field of environmental monitoring.…”

Minimally invasive biomarkers in human population biology research, part 2: An introduction to the special issue

“…DeLouize, Eick, et al (2022) focus their contribution on the measurement of cancer biomarkers from samples collected through minimally invasive techniques, with a goal of connecting the innovative methods work being done by human biologists with cancer medicine and epidemiology. Despite rapid advances in cancer medicine and research over the past several decades, oncology still primarily uses relatively invasive and potentially risky procedures such as biopsy, pap smear, colonoscopy, and venous blood sampling for cancer screening, staging, and assessing responses to therapy.…”

“…The methods development and innovative biomarker applications described in this special issue provide new tools for the field to expand data collection to allow new perspectives, including on skeletal dynamics and osteoporosis (Devlin et al, 2022), patterns of cancers (DeLouize, Eick, et al, 2022), and stress experienced during pregnancy (Horan et al, 2022). The growing use of POCT also helps expand these perspectives specifically with regard to health biomarkers (Gildner et al, 2022).…”

“…This emphasis on using multiple biomarkers is central to contributions by Devlin et al (2022) on BTMs, Barrett et al (2022) on immunosenescence, DeCaro and Helfrecht (2022) on stress, and DeLouize, Eick, et al (2022) on cancers. The future of our field is in novel applications that use multiple biomarkers across different physiological systems and levels to address research questions in sophisticated ways; furthermore, innovative statistical approaches that likely include machine learning approaches will facilitate interpretation of these massively complex data.…”

After Theranos: Using point‐of‐care testing to advance measures of health biomarkers in human biology research

“…Additionally, POCT in low‐resource areas may improve patient care and save lives through reducing barriers for patients who live far from healthcare providers and/or lack reliable transportation; this allows medical tests to be administered, results to be reviewed, and treatment plans to be decided in a single visit (Bissonnette & Bergeron, 2017; Kozel & Burnham‐Marusich, 2017; Larsson et al, 2015). The widespread use of POCT is also expected to increase access to preventive care, such as cancer screening procedures (DeLouize et al, 2021). Finally, widespread POCT access may also help personalize medical care plans, facilitating the collection of several samples from a single individual that can be used to tailor treatment and drive improvements in health (Pandey et al, 2018).…”