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Review
. 2023 Jan 30;15(3):859.
doi: 10.3390/cancers15030859.

Circulating Tumor DNA Methylation Biomarkers for Characterization and Determination of the Cancer Origin in Malignant Liver Tumors

Tina Draškovič  1 , Nina Zidar  1 , Nina Hauptman  1
Affiliations
Review

Circulating Tumor DNA Methylation Biomarkers for Characterization and Determination of the Cancer Origin in Malignant Liver Tumors

Tina Draškovič et al. Cancers (Basel). .

Abstract

Malignant liver tumors include primary malignant liver tumors and liver metastases. They are among the most common malignancies worldwide. The disease has a poor prognosis and poor overall survival, especially with liver metastases. Therefore, early detection and differentiation between malignant liver tumors are critical for patient treatment selection. The detection of cancer and the prediction of its origin is possible with a DNA methylation profile of the tumor DNA compared to that of normal cells, which reflects tissue differentiation and malignant transformation. New technologies enable the characterization of the tumor methylome in circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), providing a variety of new ctDNA methylation biomarkers, which can provide additional information to clinical decision-making. Our review of the literature provides insight into methylation changes in ctDNA from patients with common malignant liver tumors and can serve as a starting point for further research.

Keywords: DNA methylation; cell-free DNA; circulating tumor DNA; liquid biopsy; liver metastases; malignant liver tumors; primary malignant liver tumors; tissue of origin determination.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Overview of aberrantly methylated genes detected in patients with the most common primary malignant liver tumors and malignant tumors that most commonly metastasize to the liver. Created with BioRender.com.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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