Liquid Biopsy for Lung Cancer: Up-to-Date and Perspectives for Screening Programs

• Published in: International journal of molecular sciences Vol. 24; no. 3; p. 2505
• Main Authors: Casagrande, Giovanna Maria Stanfoca, Silva, Marcela de Oliveira, Reis, Rui Manuel, Leal, Letícia Ferro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 28.01.2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Apoptosis; Biomarkers; Biomarkers, Tumor - genetics; Biopsy; Body fluids; Cancer therapies; Cell-Free Nucleic Acids; Cerebrospinal fluid; Diagnosis; Early Detection of Cancer; Exosomes; Humans; liquid biopsy; Liquid Biopsy - methods; Lung cancer; Lung Neoplasms - diagnosis; Lung Neoplasms - genetics; Medical prognosis; Metabolites; Mortality; Mutation; Patients; Precision medicine; Protein-tyrosine kinase; Review; Saliva; Sputum; Tumor cells; Tyrosine; lung cancer; precision medicine; biomarkers; liquid biopsy
• ISSN: 1422-0067; 1661-6596; 1422-0067
• DOI: 10.3390/ijms24032505

Lung cancer is the deadliest cancer worldwide. Tissue biopsy is currently employed for the diagnosis and molecular stratification of lung cancer. Liquid biopsy is a minimally invasive approach to determine biomarkers from body fluids, such as blood, urine, sputum, and saliva. Tumor cells release cfDNA, ctDNA, exosomes, miRNAs, circRNAs, CTCs, and DNA methylated fragments, among others, which can be successfully used as biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis, and prediction of treatment response. Predictive biomarkers are well-established for managing lung cancer, and liquid biopsy options have emerged in the last few years. Currently, detecting EGFR p.(Tyr790Met) mutation in plasma samples from lung cancer patients has been used for predicting response and monitoring tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKi)-treated patients with lung cancer. In addition, many efforts continue to bring more sensitive technologies to improve the detection of clinically relevant biomarkers for lung cancer. Moreover, liquid biopsy can dramatically decrease the turnaround time for laboratory reports, accelerating the beginning of treatment and improving the overall survival of lung cancer patients. Herein, we summarized all available and emerging approaches of liquid biopsy-techniques, molecules, and sample type-for lung cancer.