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Liquid Biopsies in the Clinical Management of Germ Cell Tumor Patients: State-of-the-Art and Future Directions

2021; Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute; Volume: 22; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.3390/ijms22052654

1661-6596

João Lobo, Ricardo Leão, Cármen Jerónimo, Rui Henrique,

Sarcoma Diagnosis and Treatment

Liquid biopsies constitute a minimally invasive means of managing cancer patients, entailing early diagnosis, follow-up and prediction of response to therapy. Their use in the germ cell tumor field is invaluable since diagnostic tissue biopsies (which are invasive) are often not performed, and therefore only a presumptive diagnosis can be made, confirmed upon examination of the surgical specimen. Herein, we provide an overall review of the current liquid biopsy-based biomarkers of this disease, including the classical, routinely used serum tumor markers—the promising microRNAs rapidly approaching the introduction into clinical practice—but also cell-free DNA markers (including DNA methylation) and circulating tumor cells. Finally, and importantly, we also explore novel strategies and challenges for liquid biopsy markers and methodologies, providing a critical view of the future directions for liquid biopsy tests in this field, highlighting gaps and unanswered questions.