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Liquid Biopsy
Overview
Liquid biopsy offers quick and easy access to tumor samples, as well as the potential for serial sampling. This non-invasive technology makes it feasible to expand oncology research to include cohorts that are unable to undergo a standard biopsy procedure or did not yield adequate tissue samples. With liquid biopsy, researchers can analyze biomarkers circulating in the bloodstream obtained through a conventional blood draw.
Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) has gained significance as a biomarker for cancer as they are released into the bloodstream by delocalized tumor cells, thus having the potential to provide a more accurate representation of tumor heterogeneity compared to tissue samples.1
Advantages of liquid biopsy
- Simple, fast and minimally-invasive
- Potential to overcome the challenges of tumor heterogeneity
- Potential for serial testing and longitudinal monitoring of tumor burden
Key technical challenges of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA)
There is very little circulating DNA per blood draw2
A very small percentage (as few as 0.01%) of circulating DNA is tumor-derived3
Tumor-specific mutations differ among research subjects4
AVENIO ctDNA Analysis Kits, a portfolio of three next-generation sequencing (NGS) liquid biopsy assays, overcome these challenges with proven molecular techniques and proprietary error suppression strategies.5
- Diaz LA and Bardelli A. Liquid biopsies: genotyping circulating tumor DNA. J Clin Oncol. 2014; 32(6):579-586.
- Volik S, Alcaide M, Morin R, Collins C. Cell-free DNA (cfDNA): Clinical Significance and Utility in Cancer Shaped By Emerging Technologies. Molecular Cancer Research. 2016;14(10):898-908. doi:10.1158/1541-7786.mcr-16-0044.
- Francis G, Stein S. Circulating Cell-Free Tumour DNA in the Management of Cancer. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2015;16(6):14122-14142. doi:10.3390/ijms160614122.
- Salk J, Fox E, Loeb L. Mutational Heterogeneity in Human Cancers: Origin and Consequences. Annual Review of Pathology: Mechanisms of Disease. 2010;5(1):51-75. doi:10.1146/annurev-pathol-121808-102113.
- Newman AM, Lovejoy AF, Klass DM, et al. Integrated digital error suppression for improved detection of circulating tumor DNA. Nature Biotechnology. 2016;34(5):547–555. doi:10.1038/nbt.3520.