Gastrointestinal Disorders (Jul 2020)

Circulating Tumour DNAs and Non-Coding RNAs as Liquid Biopsies for the Management of Colorectal Cancer Patients

  • Andrea Lampis,
  • Michele Ghidini,
  • Margherita Ratti,
  • Milko B. Mirchev,
  • Ali Fuat Okuducu,
  • Nicola Valeri,
  • Jens Claus Hahne

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/gidisord2030022
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 2, no. 3
pp. 212 – 235

Abstract

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Circulating tumour DNAs and non-coding RNAs present in body fluids have been under investigation as tools for cancer diagnosis, disease monitoring, and prognosis for many years. These so-called liquid biopsies offer the opportunity to obtain information about the molecular make-up of a cancer in a minimal invasive way and offer the possibility to implement theranostics for precision oncology. Furthermore, liquid biopsies could overcome the limitations of tissue biopsies in capturing the complexity of tumour heterogeneity within the primary cancer and among different metastatic sites. Liquid biopsies may also be implemented to detect early tumour formation or to monitor cancer relapse of response to therapy with greater sensitivity compared with the currently available protein-based blood biomarkers. Most colorectal cancers are often diagnosed at late stages and have a high mortality rate. Hence, biomolecules as nucleic acids present in liquid biopsies might have prognostic potential and could serve as predictive biomarkers for chemotherapeutic regimens. This review will focus on the role of circulating tumour DNAs and non-coding RNAs as diagnostic, prognostic, and predictive biomarkers in the context of colorectal cancer.

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