Researchers have discovered a novel strategy to detect cancer cells with a liquid biopsy designed to be simpler, quicker, and more informational compared with current methods, according to a recent study published by Walker et al in Small.
Background
Current methods for detecting cancer cells may be costly, complex, and too limited because they don’t allow researchers to analyze multiple biomarkers simultaneously.
A liquid biopsy—a noninvasive test that uses blood, urine, and other bodily fluids as a vehicle for detecting cancer cells or other molecules released by tumors—can identify or screen for cancer, monitor disease progression, and reveal how the body is responding to cancer therapy.
Study Methods and Results
In the recent study, the researchers developed a tool that collects cellular material like genes and proteins, known as extracellular vesicles. They noted that the selection and analysis of extracellular vesicles could provide information about cancer in the body. Despite longstanding potential in this field, the problem has centered on the best way to analyze the “bioactive cargo” in extracellular vesicles and develop an accurate biopsy tool.
The researchers detailed that the novel imaging-based tool works by taking a digital approach and has proven in early studies to be more sensitive, since it sorts hundreds of thousands of extracellular vesicles.
Conclusions
The researchers emphasized that the liquid biopsy may be capable of detecting cancer at earlier, more curable stages, and unpacking the function of extracellular vesicles—which could play a role in cancer metastasis and the way the immune system responds to the disease.
The researchers are currently collaborating to discover extracellular vesicle–based biomarkers to detect whether immunotherapy is working against cancer. They plan to use the novel tool in clinical research to guide results of treatment-based clinical trials.
Disclosure: For full disclosures of the study authors, visit onlinelibrary.wiley.com.
