Liquid biopsy as novel tool in precision medicine: origins, properties, identification and clinical perspective of cancer’s biomarkers

Abstract

In recent years, there has been an increase in knowledge of cancer, accompanied by a technological development that gives rise to medical oncology. An instrument that allows the implementation of individualized therapeutic strategies is the liquid biopsy. Currently, it is the most innovative methodology in medical oncology. Its high potential as a tool for screening and early detection, the possibility of assessing the patient’s condition after diagnosis and relapse, as well as the effectiveness of real-time treatments in different types of cancer. Liquid biopsy is capable of overcoming the limitations of tissue biopsies. The elements that compose the liquid biopsy are circulating tumor cells, circulating tumor nucleic acids, free of cells or contained in exosomes, microvesicle and platelets. Liquid biopsy studies are performed on various biofluids extracted in a non-invasive way, and they can be performed both from the blood and in urine, saliva or cerebrospinal fluid. The development of genotyping techniques, using the elements that make up liquid biopsy, make it possible to detect mutations, intertumoral and intratumoral heterogeneity, and provide molecular information on cancer for application in medical oncology in an individualized way in different types of tumors. Therefore, liquid biopsy has the potential to change the way medical oncology could predict the course of the disease.