Liquid gold: Blood-based biopsies make headway

Abstract

Liquid biopsy gaining traction Biopsies enable oncologists to gather information about a potential or established tumor, including confirmation of the presence of cancerous tissue and determination of its histological characteristics, such as tumor grade and stage, as well as its molecular features, such as the presence of certain gene mutations. Ultimately, this information can be put to use in determining the most appropriate course of treatment. The current gold standard is a tissue biopsy that typically involves an invasive procedure to permit the collection of a piece of tumor tissue. Yet, tissue biopsies are not always feasible because of the location of the tumor or the poor performance status of many patients with advanced disease. They also provide only a snapshot of the disease at the time at which they were taken and don’t necessarily reflect the genetic heterogeneity or evolution of a tumor over time. The detection of components that are derived from the tumor circulating in the blood of cancer patients had fueled the idea of blood-based diagnostics in oncology – so-called liquid biopsies. These have rapidly gained traction in the past several decades as a less expensive (the cost of performing genomic analyses on blood samples is at least an order of magnitude less than on tissue samples), less invasive (requiring only a simple blood draw) alternative source of information about tumors. As researchers have refined the ability to exploit liquid biopsies, commercial interest has been piqued. More than 35 companies within the United States alone are developing liquid biopsies, and it’s easy to see why with a market projected to be in the many billions of dollars.