Dr Kusuma K N MD,DNB
CONTENTS
 Introduction
 Definition
 What comes under liquid biopsy
 Indication
 Advantages
 Limitations
 Summary
 References
INTRODUCTION
 With high morbidity and mortality, cancer has
become a big health threat problem around the
world .
 Two main techniques of tumor diagnosis
 Medical imaging
 ultrasonic testing, X-ray , CT, MRI, PETCT and endoscope
 Pathology
 tissue biopsies, serological indicators (eg. CEA and PSA)
test and molecular pathology test (eg. FISH, RT-PCR and
NGS)
LIMITATIONS
 Cancer is a heterogeneous disease
 Molecular properties differ within a tumour
 Primary tumour biopsy may not reflect current disease
condition
 Therapy causes changes in tumour cells
 Biopsy
 invasive test
 High cost for procedure
 May not be feasible to do in all patients
 Impractical for periodic monitoring for progression/
recurrence
New diagnostic test which address these
limitation
 simple, non-invasive
 Allows early disease detection
 Allows real time evaluation of
 metastasis
 actual treatment response
 Assessment of tumour heterogeneity and monitoring
of tumour dynamics
 Can be cheaper and faster than classical biopsy
testing
LIQUID BIOPSY
 Non-invasive tests that detect tumor biomarkers
that are shed into the body fluid from the tumor.
 Samples included
 Blood
 Saliva
 Urine
 CSF
WHAT COMES UNDER LIQUID BIOPSY
Circulating
tumour cells
Circulating
tumour DNA
Exosomes
New addition :
Tumour
educated
platelets
CIRCULATING TUMOR CELLS (CTCS)
• Carries phenotypic and genotypic information of tumor
 1869 Ashworth : first found and named CTC
 2002 and 2003 Thiery and Steeg : found the
formation mechanism of CTC.
 2007  CTC has been recommended as new tumor
biomarker by American Society of Clinical Oncology
(ASCO)
SAMPLE COLLECTION
 Cell save preservative tube
 made of negatively charged materials
 contain stabilizing reagents
 preventing blood cell breakdown for a period of
about 5 days
TECHNOLOGIES TO DETECT AND CAPTURE
CTCS:
Biological property /
EpCAM-affinity
based:
• CellSearch® system
• AdnaTest Breast
CancerDetect
• CTC-Chip
• MACS® (magnetic
activated cell
sorting system)
• Mag Sweeper
Physical properties-
based:
• ISET (isolation by
size of epithelial
tumor cells)
• ScreenCell®
• ApoStream™
• Density gradient
centrifugation
Other methods:
• FAST (fiber-optic
array scanning
technology)
• EPISPOT (epithelial
immunospot)
• FACS (flow
cytometry)
• PRO Onc Assay
ADVANTAGES
 CTC Count: significantly correlate with prognosis
 Allow both phenotypic and genotypic analysis
 Potential relation with the tumor progression and
metastasis
 Various technologies for CTC enrichment or isolation
 High specificity
 Allow culturing and analysis in vitro
DISADVANTAGES
 Low concentration
 1-10cells per 10 ml peripheral blood
 fragility of cells
 False negative and false positive results
 Cannot decrease the diagnosis bias from tumor
heterogeneity
Complex heterogeneity
 morphology of CTCs derived from different tumor
tissues through EMT is significantly different.
 even within only one cancer, the morphology and
amount of CTCs derived from different molecular
subtypes of solid tumors or distant sites are
distinct
 eg. prostate primary and bone metastatic cancers
 the percentage of patients whose CTCs can be
detected is also different between cancers
 colorectal, ovarian and breast cancer : 50-70%
 non-small cell lung cancer is only 30%.
inter- and intra-patient heterogeneity
Misses some small subclones of tumor cells like tissue
biopsy.
lead to diagnosis bias
CIRCULATING DNA’S
 Releases by both
healthy and tumour
cells
 Released by solid
tumor
 Have cancer-
associated genetic
mutations:
 Half life is less than 2
hrs
 Percentage of ctDNA
is very low (0.01%-1%)
Cell free DNA: cfDNA Circulating tumor DNA:
ctDNA
 High sensitivity
 Allow analysis of DNA
sequence and methylation,
including PCR and NGS
 Can decrease the diagnosis
bias from tumor
heterogeneity
 Timely and dynamically
monitor tumor progression
 ctDNA is unstable
 requires fast processing
 low specificity because of
cfDNA from normal tissue
 False positive and false
negative results
Advantages
limitations
EXOSOMES
 Small (50–100nm in diameter)
 lipid bilayer membrane vesicles of endocytic origin.
 play a central role in cell-to-cell communication
 Role in tumour
 Initiation
 Progression
 Metastasis
 drug-resistance
 Based on these results, researchers have
developed some exosomes targeted drugs and
tried to use exosomes for drug delivery
 Enrichment methods : similar to those of CTC.
 Analysis regular biological technologies, such
as electron microscope, RT-PCR, western blot,
FISH, flow cytometry and NGS
 Allow analysis of
DNA, RNA and
proteins from solid
tumor
 Potential relation with
the tumor drug-
resistance and
metastasis
 Lacking effective
enrichment method
Advantages Limitation
New addition in liquid
biopsy
TUMOUR EDUCATED PLATELATES
 Besides tumor cells and their products, normal
cells present in the tumor microenvironment are
also released into the blood stream.
 harbor important information about the tumor
 platelets have been studied extensively and gave
promising results
 interaction between blood platelets and tumor
cells
 not only affects the expression of relevant genes in
tumor cells, but also alters the RNA profile of blood
platelets
 mRNA sequencing of TEPs can be done
INDICATIONS
 To monitor
 residual disease
 Treatment response
 disease progression and tumor evolution (i.e. development
of tumor resistance).
 Helps to explore other options of treatment when the patient
is resistant to current therapies.
 Provide an alternative method for biopsy when
 tissue is difficult to obtain or not available
 primary site of metastatic disease is unknown.
 Limited quantity of tissue and traditional molecular
genotyping is requested.
 • Provide prognostic information.
ADVANTAGES
 Noninvasively take repeated tumor samples
 Fewer side effects
 Rapid testing speed
 Decreasing the diagnosis bias from tumor
heterogeneity
 Dynamically reflect the tumor progression
LIMITATIONS
 lack of standardization of techniques.
 sensitivity and specificity and current detection
technologies need to be improved
 sample size in most of current researches is small
 low concentration of CTC, ctDNA and exosomes
 difficult to detect gene mutations, amplifications
and fusions in parallel
 NGS can address these limitation
 However, cannot be used in general
 High cost
 requirement for high-quality DNA (not
characteristic of cfDNA)
 extensive data analysis requiring a dedicated
bioinformatician
CONCLUSION
REFERENCES
 DNA Liquid Biopsy Metastasis Test
 EGFR KRAS BRAF genes
 DNA Liquid Biopsy Lung Panel Metastasis Test
 BRAF, EGFR, ERBB2, KRAS, and PIK3CA genes

 DNA Liquid Biopsy Colon Cancer Metastasis Test
 KRAS, NRAS, EGFR, and PIK3CA genes

Liquid biopsy

  • 1.
    Dr Kusuma KN MD,DNB
  • 2.
    CONTENTS  Introduction  Definition What comes under liquid biopsy  Indication  Advantages  Limitations  Summary  References
  • 3.
    INTRODUCTION  With highmorbidity and mortality, cancer has become a big health threat problem around the world .  Two main techniques of tumor diagnosis  Medical imaging  ultrasonic testing, X-ray , CT, MRI, PETCT and endoscope  Pathology  tissue biopsies, serological indicators (eg. CEA and PSA) test and molecular pathology test (eg. FISH, RT-PCR and NGS)
  • 4.
    LIMITATIONS  Cancer isa heterogeneous disease  Molecular properties differ within a tumour  Primary tumour biopsy may not reflect current disease condition  Therapy causes changes in tumour cells  Biopsy  invasive test  High cost for procedure  May not be feasible to do in all patients  Impractical for periodic monitoring for progression/ recurrence
  • 5.
    New diagnostic testwhich address these limitation  simple, non-invasive  Allows early disease detection  Allows real time evaluation of  metastasis  actual treatment response  Assessment of tumour heterogeneity and monitoring of tumour dynamics  Can be cheaper and faster than classical biopsy testing
  • 6.
    LIQUID BIOPSY  Non-invasivetests that detect tumor biomarkers that are shed into the body fluid from the tumor.  Samples included  Blood  Saliva  Urine  CSF
  • 8.
    WHAT COMES UNDERLIQUID BIOPSY Circulating tumour cells Circulating tumour DNA Exosomes New addition : Tumour educated platelets
  • 9.
    CIRCULATING TUMOR CELLS(CTCS) • Carries phenotypic and genotypic information of tumor  1869 Ashworth : first found and named CTC  2002 and 2003 Thiery and Steeg : found the formation mechanism of CTC.  2007  CTC has been recommended as new tumor biomarker by American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)
  • 10.
    SAMPLE COLLECTION  Cellsave preservative tube  made of negatively charged materials  contain stabilizing reagents  preventing blood cell breakdown for a period of about 5 days
  • 11.
    TECHNOLOGIES TO DETECTAND CAPTURE CTCS: Biological property / EpCAM-affinity based: • CellSearch® system • AdnaTest Breast CancerDetect • CTC-Chip • MACS® (magnetic activated cell sorting system) • Mag Sweeper Physical properties- based: • ISET (isolation by size of epithelial tumor cells) • ScreenCell® • ApoStream™ • Density gradient centrifugation Other methods: • FAST (fiber-optic array scanning technology) • EPISPOT (epithelial immunospot) • FACS (flow cytometry) • PRO Onc Assay
  • 15.
    ADVANTAGES  CTC Count:significantly correlate with prognosis  Allow both phenotypic and genotypic analysis  Potential relation with the tumor progression and metastasis  Various technologies for CTC enrichment or isolation  High specificity  Allow culturing and analysis in vitro
  • 16.
    DISADVANTAGES  Low concentration 1-10cells per 10 ml peripheral blood  fragility of cells  False negative and false positive results  Cannot decrease the diagnosis bias from tumor heterogeneity
  • 17.
    Complex heterogeneity  morphologyof CTCs derived from different tumor tissues through EMT is significantly different.  even within only one cancer, the morphology and amount of CTCs derived from different molecular subtypes of solid tumors or distant sites are distinct  eg. prostate primary and bone metastatic cancers  the percentage of patients whose CTCs can be detected is also different between cancers  colorectal, ovarian and breast cancer : 50-70%  non-small cell lung cancer is only 30%.
  • 18.
    inter- and intra-patientheterogeneity Misses some small subclones of tumor cells like tissue biopsy. lead to diagnosis bias
  • 19.
    CIRCULATING DNA’S  Releasesby both healthy and tumour cells  Released by solid tumor  Have cancer- associated genetic mutations:  Half life is less than 2 hrs  Percentage of ctDNA is very low (0.01%-1%) Cell free DNA: cfDNA Circulating tumor DNA: ctDNA
  • 21.
     High sensitivity Allow analysis of DNA sequence and methylation, including PCR and NGS  Can decrease the diagnosis bias from tumor heterogeneity  Timely and dynamically monitor tumor progression  ctDNA is unstable  requires fast processing  low specificity because of cfDNA from normal tissue  False positive and false negative results Advantages limitations
  • 23.
    EXOSOMES  Small (50–100nmin diameter)  lipid bilayer membrane vesicles of endocytic origin.  play a central role in cell-to-cell communication
  • 25.
     Role intumour  Initiation  Progression  Metastasis  drug-resistance  Based on these results, researchers have developed some exosomes targeted drugs and tried to use exosomes for drug delivery
  • 26.
     Enrichment methods: similar to those of CTC.  Analysis regular biological technologies, such as electron microscope, RT-PCR, western blot, FISH, flow cytometry and NGS
  • 27.
     Allow analysisof DNA, RNA and proteins from solid tumor  Potential relation with the tumor drug- resistance and metastasis  Lacking effective enrichment method Advantages Limitation
  • 28.
    New addition inliquid biopsy
  • 29.
    TUMOUR EDUCATED PLATELATES Besides tumor cells and their products, normal cells present in the tumor microenvironment are also released into the blood stream.  harbor important information about the tumor  platelets have been studied extensively and gave promising results
  • 30.
     interaction betweenblood platelets and tumor cells  not only affects the expression of relevant genes in tumor cells, but also alters the RNA profile of blood platelets  mRNA sequencing of TEPs can be done
  • 32.
    INDICATIONS  To monitor residual disease  Treatment response  disease progression and tumor evolution (i.e. development of tumor resistance).  Helps to explore other options of treatment when the patient is resistant to current therapies.  Provide an alternative method for biopsy when  tissue is difficult to obtain or not available  primary site of metastatic disease is unknown.  Limited quantity of tissue and traditional molecular genotyping is requested.  • Provide prognostic information.
  • 33.
    ADVANTAGES  Noninvasively takerepeated tumor samples  Fewer side effects  Rapid testing speed  Decreasing the diagnosis bias from tumor heterogeneity  Dynamically reflect the tumor progression
  • 34.
    LIMITATIONS  lack ofstandardization of techniques.  sensitivity and specificity and current detection technologies need to be improved  sample size in most of current researches is small
  • 35.
     low concentrationof CTC, ctDNA and exosomes  difficult to detect gene mutations, amplifications and fusions in parallel  NGS can address these limitation  However, cannot be used in general  High cost  requirement for high-quality DNA (not characteristic of cfDNA)  extensive data analysis requiring a dedicated bioinformatician
  • 36.
  • 38.
  • 40.
     DNA LiquidBiopsy Metastasis Test  EGFR KRAS BRAF genes  DNA Liquid Biopsy Lung Panel Metastasis Test  BRAF, EGFR, ERBB2, KRAS, and PIK3CA genes   DNA Liquid Biopsy Colon Cancer Metastasis Test  KRAS, NRAS, EGFR, and PIK3CA genes

Editor's Notes

  • #14 DAPI (4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole) is a blue-fluorescent DNA stain that exhibits ~20-fold enhancement of fluorescence upon binding to AT regions of dsDNA. It is excited by the violet (405 nm) laser line and is commonly used as a nuclear counterstain in fluorescence microscopy, flow cytometry, and chromosome staining.
  • #20 average concentration in cancer patients’ blood is 180ng/mL