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Cancers
Special Issues
Recent Advances in Liquid Biopsy Biomarkers of Cancer
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Recent Advances in Liquid Biopsy Biomarkers of Cancer

A special issue of Cancers (ISSN 2072-6694). This special issue belongs to the section "Cancer Biomarkers".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 January 2026 | Viewed by 245

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Hua-Jun He

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, USA
Interests: cancer biomarker; standards development; assay standardization; liquid biopsy; regenerative medicine
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Liquid biopsy has emerged as a minimally invasive method for cancer detection, prognosis, treatment decision guidance, and monitoring. It detects cancer-related biomarkers, including circulating tumor cells, cell-free DNA, cell-free RNA, miRNA, extracellular vesicles, proteins, lipids, and metabolites present in the bodily fluids of patients. These biospecimens can be easily and reproducibly collected for analysis. The rapid advances in sequencing technologies, AI, and other emerging technologies have the potential to enhance the utility of liquid biopsy biomarkers for early cancer detection and multi-cancer detection. However, there are still limitations and challenges in liquid biopsy, such as a lack of laboratory standardization. It is crucial to ensure the accuracy and reliability of these test results for clinical utility.

We invite you to contribute to this Special Issue, titled "Recent Advances in Liquid Biopsy Biomarkers of Cancer". It will focus not only on the discovery of novel cancer biomarkers, such as genetic, epigenetic, proteomic, circulating microbial DNA, fragmentome, and metabolic markers in liquid biopsy for clinical applications, but also on analytical assay development, validation, and reference material development for these biomarker measurements. Additionally, we will explore emerging tools and advanced computational methodologies for detecting cancer biomarkers in liquid biopsy.

For this Special Issue, we welcome original research articles, reviews, and perspective or opinion pieces discussing challenges and future directions in the field.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Hua-Jun He
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Cancers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • liquid biopsy
  • circulating tumor cells
  • circulating tumor DNA
  • extracellular vesicles
  • circulating RNA
  • cfDNA methylation
  • fragmentome
  • reference material
  • miRNA
  • multi-cancer detection

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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40 pages, 1378 KiB  
Systematic Review
Liquid Biopsy Biomarkers in Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer Treated with Second-Generation Antiandrogens: Ready for Clinical Practice? A Systematic Review
by Andrei-Vlad Badulescu, Razvan Rahota, Alon Vigdorovits and Ovidiu Laurean Pop
Cancers 2025, 17(15), 2482; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers17152482 - 27 Jul 2025
Viewed by 63
Abstract
Background: Second-generation androgen receptor signaling inhibitors are one of the main treatment options in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). Nonetheless, a considerable proportion show limited response to treatment, which indicates the need for convenient, easily accessible predictor biomarkers, a role suited for [...] Read more.
Background: Second-generation androgen receptor signaling inhibitors are one of the main treatment options in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). Nonetheless, a considerable proportion show limited response to treatment, which indicates the need for convenient, easily accessible predictor biomarkers, a role suited for liquid biopsy. Methods: We conducted a PRISMA-compliant systematic review of four databases (Embase, Medline, Scopus, Web of Science) to identify all studies (observational studies and clinical trials) investigating cell-free DNA, circulating tumor cells, exosomes, and circulating RNAs as prognostic markers in metastatic castration-resistant patients starting androgen receptor signaling inhibitors. We excluded studies that evaluated combination therapies, rare histological subtypes or included nonmetastatic or castrate-sensitive disease. We also evaluated whether published papers followed reporting guidelines (REMARK, STROBE, or CONSORT for abstracts). Results: We identified a total of 123 reports, from which we identified only a few well-studied and consistent biomarkers: androgen receptor overexpression/copy number gain and splice variant 7, as well as disease burden markers (circulating tumor DNA fraction and circulating tumor cell concentration). Alterations or copy number loss in tumor suppressors PTEN, RB1, and TP53 were second in terms of quantity and consistency of evidence. However, a large majority of identified biomarkers were relatively understudied or inconsistent. We identified two potential vulnerabilities: inconsistent adherence to reporting guidelines and the under-inclusion of patients of non-Western European ancestry. Conclusions: A large number of biomarkers were linked to worse outcomes in prostate cancer; nonetheless, in most cases, the evidence is limited or inconsistent, or even contradictory. The main exceptions pertain to androgen receptor signaling and disease burden, and, to a smaller extent, to certain tumor suppressor genes. Further studies are needed to confirm their clinical utility, using clear and consistent methodologies and including patients from currently understudied populations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Liquid Biopsy Biomarkers of Cancer)
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