The dawn of the liquid biopsy in the fight against cancer

// Irma G. Domínguez-Vigil 1 , Ana K. Moreno-Martínez 1, 2 , Julia Y. Wang 3 , Michael H. A. Roehrl 4 and Hugo A. Barrera-Saldaña 1, 5 1 Departamento de Bioquímica y Medicina Molecular, Facultad de Medicina de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Monterrey, Nuevo León, México 2 Genetics Laboratory, Vitagénesis, Monterrey, Nuevo León, México 3 Curandis Laboratories, New York, NY, USA 4 Department of Pathology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA 5 TecSalud, Tecnológico de Monterrey, San Pedro Garza García, Nuevo León, México Correspondence to: Michael H. A. Roehrl, email: roehrlm@mskcc.org Hugo A. Barrera-Saldaña, email: habarrera@gmail.com Keywords: liquid biopsy; cfDNA; ctDNA; early detection; diagnostics Received: October 17, 2017 Accepted: November 10, 2017 Published: December 08, 2017 ABSTRACT Cancer is a molecular disease associated with alterations in the genome, which, thanks to the highly improved sensitivity of mutation detection techniques, can be identified in cell-free DNA (cfDNA) circulating in blood, a method also called liquid biopsy. This is a non-invasive alternative to surgical biopsy and has the potential of revealing the molecular signature of tumors to aid in the individualization of treatments. In this review, we focus on cfDNA analysis, its advantages, and clinical applications employing genomic tools (NGS and dPCR) particularly in the field of oncology, and highlight its valuable contributions to early detection, prognosis, and prediction of treatment response.