Challenges and achievements of liquid biopsy technologies employed in early breast cancer
Alfonso Alba-Bernal,
Rocío Lavado-Valenzuela,
María Emilia Domínguez-Recio,
Begoña Jiménez-Rodriguez,
María Isabel Queipo-Ortuño,
Emilio Alba,
Iñaki Comino-Méndez
Affiliations
Alfonso Alba-Bernal
Unidad de Gestión Clínica Intercentros de Oncología Medica, Hospitales Universitarios Regional y Virgen de la Victoria. The Biomedical Research Institute of Málaga (IBIMA-CIMES-UMA), Málaga 29010, Spain
Rocío Lavado-Valenzuela
Unidad de Gestión Clínica Intercentros de Oncología Medica, Hospitales Universitarios Regional y Virgen de la Victoria. The Biomedical Research Institute of Málaga (IBIMA-CIMES-UMA), Málaga 29010, Spain
María Emilia Domínguez-Recio
Unidad de Gestión Clínica Intercentros de Oncología Medica, Hospitales Universitarios Regional y Virgen de la Victoria. The Biomedical Research Institute of Málaga (IBIMA-CIMES-UMA), Málaga 29010, Spain
Begoña Jiménez-Rodriguez
Unidad de Gestión Clínica Intercentros de Oncología Medica, Hospitales Universitarios Regional y Virgen de la Victoria. The Biomedical Research Institute of Málaga (IBIMA-CIMES-UMA), Málaga 29010, Spain
María Isabel Queipo-Ortuño
Unidad de Gestión Clínica Intercentros de Oncología Medica, Hospitales Universitarios Regional y Virgen de la Victoria. The Biomedical Research Institute of Málaga (IBIMA-CIMES-UMA), Málaga 29010, Spain
Emilio Alba
Corresponding authors.; Unidad de Gestión Clínica Intercentros de Oncología Medica, Hospitales Universitarios Regional y Virgen de la Victoria. The Biomedical Research Institute of Málaga (IBIMA-CIMES-UMA), Málaga 29010, Spain
Iñaki Comino-Méndez
Corresponding authors.; Unidad de Gestión Clínica Intercentros de Oncología Medica, Hospitales Universitarios Regional y Virgen de la Victoria. The Biomedical Research Institute of Málaga (IBIMA-CIMES-UMA), Málaga 29010, Spain
Breast cancer is the most common cancer type in women worldwide and its early detection is crucial to curing the disease. Tissue biopsy, currently the method of choice to obtain tumour molecular information, is invasive and might be affected by tumour heterogeneity rendering it incapable to portray the complete molecular picture. Liquid biopsy permits to study disease features in a more comprehensive manner by sampling biofluids and extracting tumour components such as circulating-tumour DNA (ctDNA), circulating-tumour cells (CTCs), and/or circulating-tumour RNA (ctRNA) amongst others in a monitoring-compatible manner. In this review, we describe the recent progress in the utilization of the circulating tumour components using early breast cancer samples. We review the most important analytes and technologies employed for their study.
