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Review
. 2019 Jul 5;11(7):950.
doi: 10.3390/cancers11070950.

Liquid Biopsy in Glioblastoma: Opportunities, Applications and Challenges

Ander Saenz-Antoñanzas  1 , Jaione Auzmendi-Iriarte  1 , Estefania Carrasco-Garcia  1   2 , Leire Moreno-Cugnon  1 , Irune Ruiz  1   2   3 , Jorge Villanua  1   3 , Larraitz Egaña  1   3 , David Otaegui  4   5 , Nicolás Samprón  6   7   8 , Ander Matheu  9   10   11
Affiliations
Review

Liquid Biopsy in Glioblastoma: Opportunities, Applications and Challenges

Ander Saenz-Antoñanzas et al. Cancers (Basel). .

Abstract

Liquid biopsy represents a minimally invasive procedure that can provide similar information from body fluids to what is usually obtained from a tissue biopsy sample. Its implementation in the clinical setting might significantly renew the field of medical oncology, facilitating the introduction of the concepts of precision medicine and patient-tailored therapies. These advances may be useful in the diagnosis of brain tumors that currently require surgery for tissue collection, or to perform genetic tumor profiling for disease classification and guidance of therapy. In this review, we will summarize the most recent advances and putative applications of liquid biopsy in glioblastoma, the most common and malignant adult brain tumor. Moreover, we will discuss the remaining challenges and hurdles in terms of technology and biology for its clinical application.

Keywords: Liquid biopsy; ctDNA; glioblastoma.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Components found in liquid biopsy (blood or cerebrospinal fluid) of glioblastoma patients. Liquid biopsies of tumor-specific circulating components include circulating tumor cells (CTCs), circulating cell-free tumor DNA (ctDNA) and RNA (ctRNA), circulating microRNAs (miRNAs), proteins, tumor-educated platelets (TEPs) and extracellular vesicles (EVs).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Potential applications of liquid biopsy in glioblastoma. The different circulating molecules may be applied to guide initial diagnosis, prognosis prediction, the molecular profiling of the tumor, treatment planning, patient follow-up, tumor evolution monitoring and the detection of glioblastoma relapse.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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