Liquid Biopsy–Based Biomarkers for Early Detection of Breast and Colorectal Cancer

Abstract

Early detection is a very important factor of the survival rates of breast and colorectal cancer, but the traditional screening and tissue biopsy techniques are usually constrained by invasiveness, access, and decreasing sensitivity in early-stage cancer. As a potentially helpful, non-invasive intervention, liquid biopsy has become a promising intervention that can be used to identify biomarkers produced by the tumor by analyzing blood-derived substances. The main liquid biopsy elements such as circulating tumor DNA, circulating tumor cells, microRNAs, and extracellular vesicles are a better source of molecular information about tumor presence, heterogeneity, and pre-oncogenic alterations. These biomarkers have shown the potential in breast and colorectal cancer in the detection of malignancies at an early stage, the progression of the disease and as a complement to current screening modalities. Recent progress in the high-throughput sequencing and molecular profiling has further increased the accuracy of diagnosis and clinical relevancy of the liquid biopsy-based assay. Although these improvements have been made, issues to do with low levels of biomarkers, standards in technology, and clinical validation still exist. Altogether, liquid biopsy-based biomarkers are a ground-breaking method of early cancer diagnosis, and they can provide considerable prospects in increasing the accuracy of screening, facilitating personalized diagnostics, and lowering cancer-related mortality rates in the population of breast and colorectal cancer patients.