It’s All in the Details

Abstract

Cancer is estimated to affects around half of Canadian population in their lifetime. Often a fatal disease, it costs billions to Canadian healthcare system yearly. Cancer diagnosis, and subsequent prognosis and treatment, all require characterization of tumor cell morphology and genotype, which is conventionally done using invasive biopsy methods. However, less invasive modalities exist and include liquid biopsy – sampling of body fluids for cancer cells and cellular material. It is less invasive compared to majority of conventional practices and yields a variety of biomarkers for further laboratory analysis. Analytical techniques including aptamers – a synthetic analogue to antibodies with increased affinity to target, allow for robust analysis of molecular data. This article discusses directions of research and current applications of these innovations and implications to diagnosis in clinical practice.