ISTOCK.COM/NANOWhile the detection of solid tumors remains routine procedure in cancer diagnostics, modern technologies such as next-generation sequencing have enabled scientists to track cancer beyond its tissues of origin and in greater detail. Many tumors shed stray cells, vesicles called exosomes, and traces of DNA into blood and other body fluids. Recent research has shown that such debris can serve as markers to monitor disease progression—and even help researchers diagnose cancers before symptoms appear.
Tumor DNA, it turns out, can be detected in routinely drawn blood samples. In a study published last month (June 5) in JAMA Oncology, for example, researchers who examined blood samples from more than 4,000 pregnant women—drawn for the purpose of identifying chromosomal abnormalities in the fetus—identified three cases of maternal cancers: an ovarian carcinoma, one follicular lymphoma, and a Hodgkin lymphoma. “In the majority of these tumors, even low grade ones, we found we could use an individual’s blood as a surrogate for studying tumor biology,” said study coauthor Joris Vermeesch of the KU Leuven Center for Human Genetics in Belgium.
Such “liquid biopsies” are not unique to blood and plasma samples. In other studies, researchers have correlated the risk of bladder cancer recurrence ...
