The development of minimally invasive and low-cost assay enabling early diagnosis, treatment response and prognosis in cancer patients may provide a promising alternative to tumor biopsy. Circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) is probably the most promising tool among all components of liquid biopsy. This review includes studies exploring cfDNA as the diagnostic, prognostic or predictive biomarker for all types of cancer. In this article, we systematically reviewed the relevant literature from PubMed about cfDNA. All articles presented higher cfDNA concentration in cancer patients when compared with patients with benign disease or healthy individuals. Most of the articles showed a connection between cfDNA and prognosis. The presence of high cfDNA level in serum or plasma was associated with worse overall patient's survival. This review supports the idea that the cfDNA analysis represents a promising research area and hopefully in the future, could be applied as a new biomarker for cancer detection, prognosis determination and prediction of the response to therapy.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mrrev.2019.05.002 | DOI Listing |
IUBMB Life
January 2025
Precision Medicine Laboratory, School of Medical Technology and Engineering, Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang, China.
Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) remains a significant global health challenge, emphasizing the need for precise identification of patients with specific therapeutic targets and those at high risk of metastasis. This study aimed to identify novel therapeutic targets for personalized treatment of TNBC patients by elucidating their roles in cell cycle regulation. Using weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA), we identified 83 hub genes by integrating gene expression profiles with clinical pathological grades.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClin Chem Lab Med
January 2025
Deparment of Laboratory Medicine, 16268 La Paz University Hospital, Madrid, Spain.
Objectives: Cardiac biomarkers are useful for the diagnostic and prognostic assessment of myocardial injury (MI) and heart failure. By measuring specific proteins released into the bloodstream during heart stress or damage, these biomarkers help clinicians detect the presence and extent of heart injury and tailor appropriate treatment plans. This study aims to provide robust biological variation (BV) data for cardiac biomarkers in athletes, specifically focusing on those applied to detect or exclude MI, such as myoglobin, creatine kinase-myocardial band (CK-MB) and cardiac troponins (cTn), and those related to heart failure and cardiac dysfunction, brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) and N-terminal brain natriuretic pro-peptide (NT-proBNP).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCancer
February 2025
Departmental Unit of Molecular and Genomic Diagnostics, Genomics Core Facility, G-STeP, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy.
Background: To date, 11 DNA polymerase epsilon (POLE) pathogenic variants have been declared "hotspot" mutations. Patients with endometrial cancer (EC) characterized by POLE hotspot mutations (POLEmut) have exceptional survival outcomes. Whereas international guidelines encourage deescalation of adjuvant treatment in early-stage POLEmut EC, data regarding safety in POLEmut patients with unfavorable characteristics are still under investigation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Cachexia Sarcopenia Muscle
February 2025
Center for Genomic Medicine, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan.
Background: Diaphragm thickness is a potential marker of sarcopenia in addition to muscle mass and strength at extremities. We aimed to clarify the descriptive epidemiology and prognostic significance of diaphragm thickness in the general population.
Methods: The study participants were 3324 community residents (mean age: 61.
Genes Chromosomes Cancer
January 2025
Laboratory of Cancer Genetics and Tumor Biology, Translational Medicine Research Unit, Medical Research Center Oulu and Biocenter Oulu, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.
Myelodysplastic neoplasia with complex karyotype (CK-MDS) poses significant clinical challenges and is associated with poor survival. Detection of structural variants (SVs) is crucial for diagnosis, prognostication, and treatment decision-making in MDS. However, the current standard-of-care (SOC) cytogenetic testing, relying on karyotyping, often yields ambiguous results in cases with CK.
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