Can “Liquid Biopsies” Transform Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment in Near Future?
Pravin Potdar,
Head,
Jaslok Hospital & Research Centre
Cancer has a property of invasion & metastasis. Once metastasis is occurred, it is almost incurable at present time. However recent development in various technologies it is now possible to evaluate metastatic potential by using “Liquid Biopsies”. Liquid biopsies are noninvasive testing in which circulating tumor cells (CTCs) or circulating free DNA come into circulation of blood even at early stage of cancer. Not only that but molecular profiling and enumeration of CTCs or Circulating tumor DNA can very well predict metastatic potential of tumor cells in finding out proper prognosis and cure to these patients. Now this new type of test is started to revolutionize personalized medicine for treatment of cancer, avoiding previous methods of surgical and needle biopsies. This test captures cancer cells or DNA that tumors shed into the blood, instead of taking tissue from the tumor itself. This test permits you to take noninvasively repeated samples of cancer patients which can be profiled for cancer genes. Thus clinicians can decide specific targeted therapies as per the specific mutation to cure cancer. These tests are mostly useful when a tissue biopsy can't easily be done, when the cancer's original site isn't known, or when drugs have stopped working and doctors are unsure what to try next to cure this cancer. With cell-free DNA tests, even doctors in rural areas can offer precision medicine because they can ship a blood sample to a lab. Ultimately, liquid biopsies might offer a way to screen for cancer besides the mammograms, colonoscopies and other methods used now. A San Diego company, Trovagene, is working to establish even faster, easier liquid biopsy testing to detect tumor DNA in Urine of cancer patient urine. But still lot is unknown about an importance of these testing and need further investigation. Advances in microfluidic technologies, biomaterials and molecular profiling have boosted rapid growth and interest in achieving a ‘liquid biopsy’ in cancer
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