Translational Utility of Liquid Biopsies in Thyroid Cancer Management

Ayanthi A Wijewardene; Marthe Chehade; Matti L Gild; Roderick J Clifton-Bligh; Martyn Bullock

doi:10.3390/cancers13143443

Translational Utility of Liquid Biopsies in Thyroid Cancer Management

Cancers (Basel). 2021 Jul 9;13(14):3443. doi: 10.3390/cancers13143443.

Authors

Ayanthi A Wijewardene^{1

2}, Marthe Chehade², Matti L Gild^{1

2}, Roderick J Clifton-Bligh^{1

2}, Martyn Bullock^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Endocrinology, Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
² Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.

Abstract

Liquid biopsies are a novel technique to assess for either circulating tumor cells (CTC) or circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA and microRNA (miRNA)) in peripheral blood samples of cancer patients. The diagnostic role of liquid biopsy in oncology has expanded in recent years, particularly in lung, colorectal and breast cancer. In thyroid cancer, the role of liquid biopsy in either diagnosis or prognosis is beginning to translate from the lab to the clinic. In this review, we describe the evolution of liquid biopsies in detecting CTC, ctDNA and miRNA in thyroid cancer patients, together with its limitations and future directions in clinical practice.

Keywords: cell free DNA (cfDNA); circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA); liquid biopsy; microRNA (miRNA); thyroid cancer.

Publication types

Review