Development of liquid biopsy in detection and screening of pancreatic cancer

Abstract

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Pancreatic cancer is a highly lethal malignant tumor, which has the characteristics of occult onset, low early diagnosis rate, rapid development and poor prognosis. The reason for the high mortality is partly that pancreatic cancer is usually found in the late stage and missed the best opportunity for surgical resection. As a promising detection technology, liquid biopsy has the advantages of non-invasive, real-time and repeatable. In recent years, the continuous development of liquid biopsy has provided a new way for the detection and screening of pancreatic cancer. The update of biomarkers and detection tools has promoted the development of liquid biopsy. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs), circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), circulating tumor RNA (ctRNA) and extracellular vesicles (EVs) provide many biomarkers for liquid biopsy of pancreatic cancer, and screening tools around them have also been developed. This review aims to report the application of liquid biopsy technology in the detection of pancreatic cancer patients, mainly introduces the biomarkers and some newly developed tools and platforms. We have also considered whether liquid biopsy technology can replace traditional tissue biopsy and the challenges it faces.

Keywords

• liquid biopsy
• pancreatic cancer
• early detection
• circulating tumor cells
• circulating tumor DNA
• extracellular vesicles