THE ROLE OF PCR-BASED LIQUID BIOPSY IN CANCER DETECTION
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/Keywords:
PCR, liquid biopsy, cancer detection, circulating tumor cells, cell-free DNA, circulating tumor DNA, exosomes, molecular biomarkers.Abstract
Nowadays, cancer detection is developing with the use of new and less invasive methods. One of these methods is liquid biopsy, which allows cancer-related biomarkers to be studied from biological fluids, especially blood [1,4]. Liquid biopsy can be considered using biomarker-based and label-free approaches. Biomarker-based methods can be used to detect circulating tumor cells (CTCs), cell-free DNA (cfDNA), circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), exosomes, and other molecular biomarkers [2,4]. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is one of the important molecular methods used for detecting specific genetic changes in liquid biopsy samples. PCR-based approaches can be useful for cancer detection, molecular characterization, and monitoring of treatment [3,7]. However, there are still some limitations, such as the low concentration of tumor biomarkers in blood, high cost, technical complexity, and the need for standardized methods [3,8]. This article discusses the role of PCR-based liquid biopsy in cancer detection, its main advantages and limitations, and its possible future applications.
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