Topic: Liquid Biopsies in Cancer Early Diagnosis

Significant progress in cancer diagnosis and treatment has contributed to improved clinical outcomes for many cancers. However, cancer remains a major health problem around the globe. Early detection of malignant tumors that are still treatable (e.g., surgical removal) is key to lowering cancer-related mortality and improving patient survival. Compared to tissue-based cancer diagnosis approaches that may be limited by for example the issue of tumor heterogeneity, difficulty in obtaining tissue at certain body locations, and possible complications associated with the biopsy procedure, approaches utilizing liquid biopsy (i.e., bodily fluids such as blood, urine, cerebrospinal fluid, saliva, sweat) have been demonstrated as a noninvasive or minimally-invasive, clinically convenient alternative that has been attracting more and more research efforts during the past few years. Specifically, tumor-derived mutational, epigenetic, and transcriptomic features are contained in certain bodily fluids from a patient, thus providing the rationale for developing cancer biomarkers based on these specimens. Furthermore, during the past few years exciting technical advances have emerged to allow profiling various molecular targets in a variety of clinical specimens. In this Special Issue, we are interested in publishing original articles, reviews, short communications, and technical notes that cover the broad area of cancer early diagnosis using liquid biopsy.

Liquid biopsy, cancer, precision oncology, early diagnosis

31 May 2020