Cutting-Edge Alternative to Biopsy Test for Cancer
Biopsy Test for Cancer: A Cutting-Edge Alternative
Blood-based biopsy also known as Liquid-Biopsy
Molecular diagnosis in cancer patients is till date focused on tissue biopsies. Different
tumours consist of a wide range of subpopulations and the small amount of tissue obtained
through tissue biopsies may not be sufficient to represent the aggressive subclones.
Moreover, distant metastases harbour unique non-detectable genomic characteristics and
possess an intra-patient heterogenetic and hence cannot be detected in the corresponding
primary tumour. Although even a re-evaluation or re-sampling is considered it may not report
sufficient information for the treatment decisions or may report a false positive report.
To overcome these limitations of tissue biopsies it has to lead the researchers to develop new
diagnosis concepts, i.e. liquid biopsies, an analysis of circulating tumour cells (CTCs) and
circulating DNA (ctDNA), that are released from the primary tumour or metastatic deposits
into the peripheral blood. These CTCs and ctDNA contains similar genetic defects as of a
tumour cell they originate from.
Have you ever asked your oncologist for an alternative to your tissue biopsies for
detecting your cancer? Are you aware of the benefits of liquid biopsies over tissue
biopsies?
Tissue Biopsy Test for Cancer vs Liquid Biopsy Test: A Successful Alternative
Liquid biopsies can be considered over tissue biopsies as it provides the same genetic
information as the tumour genetics along with which there are many other advantages to opt
for liquid biopsies over the traditional tissue biopsies. It is a simple blood sampling procedure
rather than a complicated tissue biopsies. Moreover, this minimally invasive procedure of
sampling enables repeatable evaluation of the clonal dynamics throughout the course of
therapy and enables the early detection of the therapeutic resistance drivers. Liquid biopsies
enable the tracking of origination of resistance-associated genetic aberrations in parallel to
the tumour molecular targeted therapies, which provides the oncologist to foreshadow the
most effective treatments *. Although, liquid biopsies also enable early initiation of alternate
therapies before relapse which is lately diagnosed through radiological and clinical
examination*. Though tissue biopsies are considered as gold standard procedure for
molecular diagnosis of cancer, liquid biopsies reflect better globally (primary and metastatic
sites) molecular status of the patients. However, liquid biopsies procedures considerable
benefits are the small amount of blood required for molecular analysis.
So, it is beneficial you consider liquid biopsy for molecular diagnosis of cancer.
We at Positive Bioscience, provide you with the facility of molecular diagnosis through liquid
biopsy.
All our flagship PositiveSelect tests can be performed through Liquid biopsies if tissue biopsy is not available.
References:
*Crowley, Emily, Federica Di Nicolantonio, Fotios Loupakis, and Alberto Bardelli. "Liquid
biopsy: monitoring cancer-genetics in the blood." Nature reviews Clinical oncology 10, no. 8
(2013): 472.
*Ilié, Marius, and Paul Hofman. "Pros: Can tissue biopsy be replaced by liquid
biopsy?." Translational lung cancer research5, no. 4 (2016): 420.
https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/def/liquid-biopsy
