Liquid biopsy: a step forward towards precision medicine in urologic malignancies

Abstract

There is a growing trend towards exploring the use of a minimally invasive “liquid biopsy” to identify biomarkers in a number of cancers, including urologic malignancies. Multiple aspects can be assessed in circulating cell-free DNA, including cell-free DNA levels, integrity, methylation and mutations. Other prospective liquid biopsy markers include circulating tumor cells, circulating RNAs (miRNA, lncRNAs and mRNAs), cell-free proteins, peptides and exosomes have also emerged as non-invasive cancer biomarkers. These circulating molecules can be detected in various biological fluids, including blood, urine, saliva and seminal plasma. Liquid biopsies hold great promise for personalized medicine due to their ability to provide multiple non-invasive global snapshots of the primary and metastatic tumors. Molecular profiling of circulating molecules has been a stepping-stone to the successful introduction of several non-invasive multi-marker tests into the clinic. In this review, we provide an overview of the current state of cell-free DNA-based kidney, prostate and bladder cancer biomarker research and discuss the potential utility other circulating molecules. We will also discuss the challenges and limitations facing non-invasive cancer biomarker discovery and the benefits of this growing area of translational research.

Engineering State‐of‐the‐Art Plasmonic Nanomaterials for SERS‐Based Clinical Liquid Biopsy Applications

“…[1] As compared to tissue-based biopsies from limited tumor regions, detection and characterization of such circulating biomarkers could provide more comprehensive molecular information on the primary and metastatic tumors present in a patient. [1] As compared to tissue-based biopsies from limited tumor regions, detection and characterization of such circulating biomarkers could provide more comprehensive molecular information on the primary and metastatic tumors present in a patient.…”

Metabolic alterations in urine extracellular vesicles are associated to prostate cancer pathogenesis and progression

“…Urine samples have been intensely used to identify PCa biomarkers [10], due to its easy availability and handling, and its anatomical proximity to the prostate. As occurs for the serum, there are also several metabolomics studies of urine samples that found alterations in urinary levels of more than 20 metabolites including N-methyl glycine, kynurenine, uracil, glycerol 3-phosphate, dihydroxybutanoic acid, xylonic acid, pyrimidine, ribofuranoside and xylopyranose (reviewed in [11]).…”

Advances in liquid biopsy on-chip for cancer management: Technologies, biomarkers, and clinical analysis

“…Urine is another fully noninvasive sample type that can be used for liquid biopsy, and is most commonly associated with use in bladder and prostate cancer diagnosis and analysis[45], [47], [56]. There have been a number of studies that compare the biomarkers in urine to those in plasma among the same patients, and there is a range of results.…”

“…It has been shown that the total level of mutant circulating DNA in urine of non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer patients correlates linearly with the tumor size and stage[45]. There have also been studies comparing the integrity of biomarkers in urine among cancer and healthy patients, which showed that cell-free DNA has elevated integrity compared to healthy controls[47]. There is some variability in whether the sample is centrifuged prior to analysis, and this also depends on the biomarker of interest [45].…”