Liquid biopsy: Potential and challenges

Current molecular diagnostics in cancer patients is based on needle biopsies, which, however, face serious limitations which can lead to false decisions. Individual tumors consist of diverse subpopulations, and the small amount of tissue obtained by needle biopsies may not represent the most aggressive subclones. Moreover, some tumor entities such as lung cancer are located at remote sites and a needle biopsy can be very difficult and at high risk. Finally, the mere analysis of the resected primary tumor alone (current standard practise in oncology) may provide misleading information with regard to the characteristics of metastases, the key target for systemic anticancer therapy.
Source: Molecular Oncology - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Source Type: research