Urinary Cell-Free DNA: Potential and Applications

Methods Mol Biol. 2019:1909:201-209. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-8973-7_15.

Abstract

Urine could be a convenient source of biomarkers for different diseases and clinical applications, mostly for cancer diagnosis, prognosis, treatment monitoring, and prenatal diagnosis. The ultra-noninvasive sampling and the possibility to analyze large volume are the main undisputed advantages of urine-based protocols. Recent and comprehensive studies showed that urinary cell-free DNA (ucfDNA) is informative to identify the genomic signature of patients, resulting in a huge tool to track the tumor evolution and for personalized medicine in urological and non-urological cancer.In this chapter, we reported the main published evidences on ucfDNA, with the aim at discussing its promising and translatable role in clinical practices.

Keywords: Cancer diagnosis; Cancer monitoring; Fetal urinary cell-free DNA; Urinary cell-free DNA; Urine.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cell-Free Nucleic Acids / genetics
  • Cell-Free Nucleic Acids / isolation & purification
  • Cell-Free Nucleic Acids / urine*
  • DNA Copy Number Variations
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Mutation
  • Neoplasms / diagnosis
  • Neoplasms / genetics
  • Neoplasms / urine*
  • Polymerase Chain Reaction / methods
  • Pregnancy
  • Prenatal Diagnosis / methods*
  • Prognosis
  • Urine Specimen Collection / methods

Substances

  • Cell-Free Nucleic Acids