Liquid biopsies for liquid tumors: emerging potential of circulating free nucleic acid evaluation for the management of hematologic malignancies

• Main Authors: Jay Hocking, Sridurga Mithraprabhu, Anna Kalff, Andrew Spencer
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: China Anti-Cancer Association 2016-06-01
• Series: Cancer Biology & Medicine
• Subjects: Circulating nucleic acids; DNA; miRNA; hematologic malignancy; biopsy
• Online Access: http://www.cancerbiomed.org/index.php/cocr/article/view/927

Circulating free nucleic acids; cell free DNA and circulating micro-RNA, are found in the plasma of patients with hematologic and solid malignancies at levels higher than that of healthy individuals. In patients with hematologic malignancy cell free DNA reflects the underlying tumor mutational profile, whilst micro-RNAs reflect genetic interference mechanisms within a tumor and potentially the surrounding microenvironment and immune effector cells. These circulating nucleic acids offer a potentially simple, non-invasive, repeatable analysis that can aid in diagnosis, prognosis and therapeutic decisions in cancer treatment.