The Prospect and Challenges to the Flow of Liquid Biopsy in Africa.

Liquid biopsy technologies have the potential to transform cancer patient management as it offers non-invasive diagnosis and real-time monitoring of disease progression and treatment responses. The use of liquid biopsy for non-invasive cancer diagnosis can have pivotal importance for the African continent where access to medical infrastructures is limited, as it eliminates the need for surgical biopsies. To apply liquid biopsy technologies in the African setting, the influence of environmental and population genetic factors must be known.

Erratum to "Prostate Osteoblast-Like Cells: A Reliable Prognostic Marker of Bone Metastasis in Prostate Cancer Patients".

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1155/2018/9840962.].

Prostate Osteoblast-Like Cells: A Reliable Prognostic Marker of Bone Metastasis in Prostate Cancer Patients.

The main aim of this study was to investigate the putative association among the presence of prostate cancer cells, defined as prostate osteoblast-like cells (POLCs), and showing the expression of typical morphological and molecular characteristics of osteoblasts, the development of bone metastasis within 5 years of diagnosis, and the uptake of 18F-choline evaluated by PET/CT analysis. To this end, prostate biopsies ( = 110) were collected comprising 44 benign lesions and 66 malignant lesions. Malignant lesions were further subdivided into two groups: biopsies from patients that had clinical evidence of bone metastasis (BM+, = 23) and biopsies from patients that did not have clinical evidence of bone metastasis within 5 years (BM-, = 43).