Abstract
The incidence of lung cancer has significantly increased over the last century, largely due to smoking, and remains the most common cause of cancer deaths worldwide. This is often due to lung cancer first presenting at late stages and a lack of curative therapeutic options at these later stages. Delayed diagnoses, inadequate tumor sampling, and lung cancer misdiagnoses are also not uncommon due to the limitations of the tissue biopsy. Our better understanding of the tumor microenvironment and the systemic actions of tumors, combined with the recent advent of the liquid biopsy, may allow molecular diagnostics to be done on circulating tumor markers, particularly circulating tumor DNA. Multiple liquid biopsy molecular methods are presently being examined to determine their efficacy as surrogates to the tumor tissue biopsy. This review will focus on new liquid biopsy technologies and how they may assist in lung cancer detection, diagnosis, and treatment.
Highlights
Lung cancer (LC) is the second most commonly diagnosed cancer and remains the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide, with an estimated 1.8 million new cases in 2012 [1]
This review will focus on new liquid biopsy technologies and how they may assist in lung cancer detection, diagnosis, and treatment
The high morbidity and mortality associated with LC and the improved survival with earlier detection methods highlights the need for better early detection methods, especially as many patients who achieve an initial remission have recurrences [1,2,3,4]
Summary
Lung cancer (LC) is the second most commonly diagnosed cancer and remains the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide, with an estimated 1.8 million new cases in 2012 [1]. Recent work on blood-based biomarker analyses, including circulating cell-free tumor DNA (cfDNA), www.impactjournals.com/Genes&Cancer circulating tumor cells (CTCs), and tumor-educated platelets (TEPs), indicate that these biomarkers may allow earlier LC detection with more frequent monitoring. CfDNA analysis has multiple applications in LC treatment, including analyzing tumor molecular heterogeneity, monitoring disease burden and prognosis, www.impactjournals.com/Genes&Cancer and the early detection of emerging therapy resistance.
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