Current Technologies for RNA-Directed Liquid Diagnostics

Abstract

There is unequivocal acceptance of the variety of enormous potential liquid nucleic acid-based diagnostics seems to offer. However, the existing controversies and the increased awareness of RNA-based techniques in society during the current global COVID-19 pandemic have made the readiness of liquid nucleic acid-based diagnostics for routine use a matter of concern. In this regard—and in the context of oncology—our review presented and discussed the status quo of RNA-based liquid diagnostics. We summarized the technical background of the available assays and benchmarked their applicability against each other. Herein, we compared the technology readiness level in the clinical context, economic aspects, implementation as part of routine point-of-care testing as well as performance power. Since the preventive care market is the most promising application sector, we also investigated whether the developments predominantly occur in the context of early disease detection or surveillance of therapy success. In addition, we provided a careful view on the current biotechnology investment activities in this sector to indicate the most attractive strategies for future economic success. Taken together, our review shall serve as a current reference, at the interplay of technology, clinical use and economic potential, to guide the interested readers in this rapid developing sector of precision medicine.

A systematic review of miRNAs as biomarkers for chemotherapy-induced cardiotoxicity in breast cancer patients reveals potentially clinically informative panels as well as key challenges in miRNA research

“…The pool of informative markers (Table 1, section A and B) was investigated individually in the literature to identify significant changes in expression linked to other Fig. 2 PRISMA schema [26] for the systematic review of literature 3. A total of 90 relevant studies were identified reporting significant expression changes in these specific miRNAs.…”

“…Moreover, several types of blood cells including erythrocytes, platelets, leukocytes and megakaryocytes can also release miRNAs [ 22 , 23 ] which makes the analysis of blood samples problematic unless prepared carefully [ 24 ]. As dysregulation of miRNAs has already been associated with many severe diseases [ 25 ], these extracellular miRNAs are of great interest as biomarkers due to their properties of being potentially disease-specific, stable, quantifiable and easily extracted from a range of clinical samples [ 26 ]. In this manuscript we review the potential of microRNAs (miRNAs) as biomarkers for chemotherapy-induced cardiotoxicity in BC patients.…”

Clinical applications of plasma proteomics and peptidomics: Towards precision medicine

“…Tissue biopsy as a morphology‐based detection method is still the gold standard for the diagnosis of solid tumors. However, growing evidence suggests that comprehensive molecular profiling can also be used to help monitor and guide treatment for cancer [252–254]. In fact, tissue biopsy does not always accurately reflect the heterogeneity of the cancer, nor is it always readily available for cancer screening or evaluating response to treatment due to invasiveness, inaccessibility, and related complications [251, 255–257].…”

Advanced technologies for molecular diagnosis of cancer: State of pre-clinical tumor-derived exosome liquid biopsies

“…The presence of DNA and RNA from non-malignant cells in ctDNA and cfRNA sample can decrease diagnostic sensitivity and increase false negative rates, while the presence of DNA and RNA from non-malignant cells that carry cancer-associated mutations can decrease assay specificity and increase false positive rates. Both LB ctDNA and cfRNA are susceptible to degradation by circulating nucleases in the interval between LB collection and its processing for analysis or cryopreservation [ 6 , 7 ].…”