[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2018\/09\/liquid-biopsies-to-detect-cancer\/#Article","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2018\/09\/liquid-biopsies-to-detect-cancer\/","headline":"Liquid Biopsy: Technology Uses Blood Test to Detect Cancer","name":"Liquid Biopsy: Technology Uses Blood Test to Detect Cancer","description":"Liquid biopsy is an all-encompassing term for the materials that can be found in the blood.  Learn about this emerging technology. ","datePublished":"2018-09-04","dateModified":"2021-10-11","author":{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/hillman.upmc.com\/","name":"UPMC Hillman Cancer Center","url":"https:\/\/hillman.upmc.com\/","sameAs":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/upmc-hillman-cancer-center\/","parentOrganization":"UPMC"},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"UPMC HealthBeat","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/UPMC-HealthBeat-Logo.png","url":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/UPMC-HealthBeat-Logo.png","width":600,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Vials.jpg","url":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Vials.jpg","height":327,"width":754},"url":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2018\/09\/liquid-biopsies-to-detect-cancer\/","about":["Cancer Care"],"wordCount":592,"articleBody":"Before cancer can be treated it must be diagnosed. Diagnosing cancer often requires patients to undergo tests that are painful or even require surgery.At UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, a new way of finding cancer\u2014called liquid biopsy\u2014is presenting tremendous possibilities for both early detection and risk assessment through a simple blood draw.Adrian Lee, PhD, director of Hillman\u2019s Women’s Cancer Research Center, and his lab team at Magee-Womens Research Institute are examining blood samples to determine whether they can be used to detect cancer as accurately as traditional biopsies.\u201cThe promise of liquid biopsy is great and the opportunity for screening potential is invaluable,\u201d says Dr. Lee. \u201cMost biopsies are done with a procedure called a core biopsy, which uses a hollow needle to obtain tissue for testing. Core biopsy can be both invasive and uncomfortable for the patient, and challenging for the doctor, depending on the location of the tumor. Everything we do to treat cancer rests on the biopsy, so liquid biopsy has the potential to enable us to use the blood as a monitor of what\u2019s happening with a tumor without having to isolate the tissue itself.\u201dAdrian Lee, PhD, director of Hillman\u2019s Women’s Cancer Research Center,Liquid Biopsy: The Future of Biopsies?Liquid biopsies are much simpler. Essentially, liquid biopsy is an all-encompassing term for the materials that can be found in the blood. Once blood is drawn, a four-step process isolates the DNA and sequences it to identify cancer mutations. The belief is that the information gleaned from the blood holds such potential that, in the long term, it could replace traditional biopsies.\u201cThere are two advantages,\u201d says Dr. Lee. \u201cWith liquid biopsies, we can take blood every month and see how the DNA is changing over time. We can track cancer in a way that\u2019s relatively noninvasive but may prove invaluable in screenings. We could potentially use it for early detection when we\u2019re checking for the risk of other cancers.\u201dDr. Lee is cautiously optimistic about future applications for cancer detection using liquid biopsy. \u201cWhile it isn\u2019t going to replace all of the tests we do in the short term, it will complement them,\u201d he says. \u201cThere are many examples where we simply can\u2019t obtain the tumor tissue because the risks and challenges are too great. Under those circumstances, liquid biopsy offers a welcome alternative.\u201dTargeting Cancer Through Early Detection and Noninvasive TrackingThe most encouraging prospect is that liquid biopsy could provide clinicians with the means to detect evidence of disease earlier and track it relatively noninvasively through blood tests. The technology is a win-win for clinicians and patients in the detection and treatment of the moving target that is cancer.\u201cLike everything else in our lives, clinical medicine, as it applies to liquid biopsy, is fast-moving,\u201d says Dr. Lee. \u201cWe\u2019re using liquid biopsies in clinical trials for early detection of cancer and for identifying therapeutic targets. Only one current liquid biopsy test is FDA-approved for patient use in lung cancer, but the goal is to put these to work for early screening and detection.\u201dThere\u2019s no doubt that early detection improves the odds for patients, and a series of noninvasive blood tests to detect cancer before it spreads could save lives. \u201cFor example, if we detect cancer localized to the breast early, there\u2019s a 98 or 99 percent survival rate at five years,\u201d says Dr. Lee. \u00a0\u201cIf we catch it after it has spread, there\u2019s approximately 25 percent survival at five years.\u201d"},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"2018","item":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2018\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"09","item":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2018\/\/09\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Liquid Biopsy: Technology Uses Blood Test to Detect Cancer","item":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2018\/09\/liquid-biopsies-to-detect-cancer\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]