OncoTargets and Therapy (Oct 2016)

Cell-free DNA as a diagnostic marker for cancer: current insights

  • Salvi S,
  • Gurioli G,
  • De Giorgi U,
  • Conteduca V,
  • Tedaldi G,
  • Calistri D,
  • Casadio V

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 9
pp. 6549 – 6559

Abstract

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Samanta Salvi,1 Giorgia Gurioli,1 Ugo De Giorgi,2 Vincenza Conteduca,2 Gianluca Tedaldi,1 Daniele Calistri,1 Valentina Casadio1 1Biosciences Laboratory, 2Department of Medical Oncology, Istituto Scientifico Romagnolo per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori (IRST) IRCCS, Meldola, Italy Abstract: The increasing knowledge of the molecular pathogenesis of cancer and the rapid development of new molecular techniques are promoting the study of early molecular alterations involved in cancer development in body fluids. Specific genetic and epigenetic alterations could be found in plasma, serum, and urine cell-free DNA (cfDNA) and could potentially be used as diagnostic biomarkers for several types of cancers. This review focuses on the role of cfDNA in diagnosis: a PubMed search was performed by selecting papers according to journal impact factor and robustness of statistical analysis. A comprehensive evaluation of “liquid biopsy”, including cfDNA analysis, will be one of the critical challenges to better understand the early mechanisms of cancer development. Keywords: cell-free DNA, diagnosis, cancer, liquid biopsy

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