Liquid biopsies are a less invasive alternative to diagnose cancer. Read on to know how a liquid biopsy is better than a tissue biopsy for cancer diagnosis.
Cancer is more likely to be treated successfully when diagnosed at an early stage. Early diagnosis and treatment also reduce physical, mental and financial suffering. There are many approaches to diagnose cancer. Physical exam, Laboratory tests (such as urine and blood tests), imaging tests (including CT scan, bone scan, MRI, PET scan, ultrasound and X-ray), and biopsy. In a biopsy, samples of your tissue, cells or fluids are collected and then tested in the laboratory to look for signs of cancer. Liquid biopsies are a less invasive method to diagnose cancer.
Dr. G. Vamshi Krishna Reddy, Director-Oncology Services, Consultant Medical Oncologist and Hemato Oncologist, Yashoda hospitals Hyderabad, tells us more about liquid biopsies.
Liquid biopsies: Uses and benefits
Liquid biopsies consist of isolating tumor-derived entities like circulating tumor cells, circulating tumor DNA, etc., present in the body fluids of patients with cancer, followed by an analysis of genomic and proteomic data contained within them.
Liquid biopsy can be used as a minimally invasive diagnostic tool for the early diagnosis and monitoring of therapeutic response, cancer screening in high-risk populations, assessment of tumor heterogeneity, and detection of novel cancer driver mutations. Liquid biopsy provides molecular tumor information that can allow early detection of tumor burden long before tissue biopsy can.
Liquid biopsy has great potential to monitor the intratumor heterogeneity, determine the clonal nature of driver events and evolutionary processes in different early-stage cancers, and also serve as a predictive marker for occult metastasis.
Limitations of liquid biopsy
Despite the myriad benefits, the clinical application of liquid biopsy is hampered due to some of its limitations, such as lack of specificity and sensitivity, lack of diverse standardization and isolation procedures, and elevated economic costs.
Currently, this technology is limited to providing knowledge of tumor activity and gene expression at a superficial level. The clinical utility for liquid biopsy presently is greater with metastatic disease versus localized tumors.
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The future of liquid biopsy
With targeted precision medicine gaining popularity in cancer treatment, liquid biopsy is expected to revolutionize the diagnosis and management in oncology. It may possibly become an adjunct or alternative to tissue biopsies and protein-based markers.
The biggest advantages of liquid biopsy as compared to percutaneous or endoscopic tissue biopsy are:
- It is a noninvasive test with minimal complications.
- It is also less resource intensive. A venous blood sample can be taken easily at any health care facility.
As far as the cost is concerned, as the industry evolves, liquid biopsy may also become cost effective.
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