Targets, pitfalls and reference materials for liquid biopsy tests in cancer diagnostics

Mol Aspects Med. 2020 Apr:72:100828. doi: 10.1016/j.mam.2019.10.005. Epub 2019 Nov 8.

Abstract

Assessment of cell free DNA (cfDNA) and RNA (cfRNA), circulating tumor cells (CTC) and extracellular vesicles (EV) in blood or other bodily fluids can enable early cancer detection, tumor dynamics assessment, minimal residual disease detection and therapy monitoring. However, few liquid biopsy tests progress towards clinical application because results are often discordant and challenging to reproduce. Reproducibility can be enhanced by the development and implementation of standard operating procedures and reference materials to identify and correct for pre-analytical variables. In this review we elaborate on the technological considerations, pre-analytical variables and the use and availability of reference materials for the assessment of liquid biopsy targets in blood and highlight initiatives towards the standardization of liquid biopsy testing.

Keywords: CTC; Exosomes; Liquid biopsy; Microvesicles; Pre-analytical variables; Reference materials; cfDNA; cfRNA.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Biomarkers, Tumor / blood
  • Biomarkers, Tumor / genetics
  • Cell-Free Nucleic Acids / analysis*
  • Cell-Free Nucleic Acids / blood
  • Cell-Free Nucleic Acids / genetics
  • Circulating Tumor DNA / analysis*
  • Extracellular Vesicles
  • Humans
  • Liquid Biopsy / methods*
  • Liquid Biopsy / standards*
  • Neoplasms / diagnosis
  • Neoplasms / pathology*
  • Reference Standards
  • Reproducibility of Results

Substances

  • Biomarkers, Tumor
  • Cell-Free Nucleic Acids
  • Circulating Tumor DNA