Platelet detection as a new liquid biopsy tool for human cancers

Abstract

Cancer is still a leading cause of death worldwide and liquid biopsy is a powerful tool that can be applied to different stages of cancer screening and treatment. However, as the second most abundant cell type in the bloodstream, platelets are isolated through well-established and fast methods in clinic but their value as a BioSource of cancer biomarkers is relatively recent. Many studies demonstrated the bidirectional interaction between cancer cells and platelets. Platelets transfer various proteins (e.g., growth factors, cytokine, chemokines) and RNAs (e.g., mRNA, lncRNA, miRNA, circRNA) into the tumor cells and microenvironment, leading the stimulation of tumor growth and metastasis. In turn, the platelet clinical characteristics (e.g., count and volume) and contents (e.g., RNA and protein) are altered by the interactions with cancer cells and this enables the early cancer detection using these features of platelets. In addition, platelet-derived microparticles also demonstrate the prediction power of being cancer biomarkers. In this review, we focus on the clinical applications of platelet detection using the platelet count, mean platelet volume, platelet RNA and protein profiles for human cancers and discuss the gap in bringing these implementations into the clinic.

Prognostic Role of Soluble and Extracellular Vesicle-Associated PD-L1, B7-H3 and B7-H4 in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients Treated with Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors

“…In the second population, although they were positive for platelet markers, the activation antigen (i.e., CD62P) was minimally expressed among patients showing a response (CR/PR) compared with non-responding patients. To date, growing evidence shows that platelet activation by cancer cells is the keystone toward a tumor-promoting phenotype [ 37 , 38 ]. Therefore, the reduction in platelet activation markers in B7-H3 Bright EVs derived from responders together with the inverse pattern of these vesicles among the patients at the first evaluation response (increased in responders and decreased in those who progress), support the hypothesis of B7-H3-EVs having a potential role in immune modulation.…”

Clinical utility and diagnostic value of tumor-educated platelets in lung cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…The advantages of TEPs, compared to other liquid biopsy techniques, are related to their abundance, high stability in blood, and ease of isolation ( 45 ). Despite TEPs being the relatively more straightforward liquid biopsy methods, the applications of TEPs profiles are still in early development, which may require a lengthy process from biomarker discovery, and design verification, to approval ( 46 , 47 ). This shortcoming and the high cost of low-input deep sequencing ( 48 ), hinder the clinical application of TEPs for detecting LC ( 46 ).…”

Scoping Review on Platelets and Tumor Angiogenesis: Do We Need More Evidence or Better Analysis?

“…This option can also simplify patient management, choice of treatment regimens, and define platelets as a reflex profile of TME and cancer characteristics. A more in-depth and constant scientific investigation needs to be conducted on the correlation introduced in this work, not only in the oncology field, but also carried out with other pathophysiological conditions, to profile patients in a non-invasive methodology [ 115 ].…”