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Diagnostics
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Liquid Biopsy: Cancer Diagnostic Biomarkers of the Future
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Liquid Biopsy: Cancer Diagnostic Biomarkers of the Future

A special issue of Diagnostics (ISSN 2075-4418). This special issue belongs to the section "Pathology and Molecular Diagnostics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 2389

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Dario Marchetti

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Division of Molecular Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, The University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque, NM 87120, USA
2. Department of Pathology, The University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque, NM 87120, USA
3. UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA
Interests: the biology and therapeutic utility of circulating tumor cells (CTCs); liquid biopsies; mechanisms of brain metastasis and dormancy in breast and melanoma cancers; molecular crosstalks between dormant bone-marrow (BM) cells and CTCs; roles of BM and BM cellular heterogeneity interplaying with metastasis and dormancy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Cancer metastasis represents the culmination of tumor progression and is the main cause of death among patients with cancer. Notably, Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) comprise a rare and heterogeneous cell population that sheds from tumors and traverses the peripheral blood stream throughout the metastatic process, e.g., from early pre-malignant lesions to fatal metastatic disease. Consequently, the concept of “Liquid Biopsy” to interrogate CTCs and other blood analytes (ctDNA, exosomes, microRNAs, etc.) for their clinical application as precision medicine tools has significantly expanded in the last two decades, following the first implementation of Liquid Biopsy proving the clinical utility of CTCs as independent prognostic indicators of progression-free and overall survival of patients with metastatic cancer. Since then, the field of “Liquid Biopsy” has witnessed not only the development and commercialization of multiple platforms, technologies, and tests but also the augmentation of knowledge characterizing CTC biology and CTC biomarkers. These advances have resulted in novel analyses employing enrichment platforms which either capture CTCs by multiple parameters, profile CTC at the single-cell level, or identify specific CTC biomarker expression and/or gene transcripts. Collectively, CTC/Liquid Biopsy studies have opened new investigational avenues towards the detection and prognostication of cancer progression and responses to therapy.

Prof. Dr. Dario Marchetti
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 short 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. Diagnostics 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 2600 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 (CTCs)
  • ctDNA testing
  • exosomes
  • blood analytes

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

24 pages, 4943 KiB  
Article
From Cell Lines to Patients: Dissecting the Proteomic Landscape of Exosomes in Breast Cancer
by Aleksei Shefer, Lyudmila Yanshole, Ksenia Proskura, Oleg Tutanov, Natalia Yunusova, Alina Grigor’eva, Yuri Tsentalovich and Svetlana Tamkovich
Diagnostics 2025, 15(8), 1028; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics15081028 - 17 Apr 2025
Viewed by 450
Abstract
Background: Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer among women worldwide; therefore, the efforts of many scientists are aimed at finding effective biomarkers for this disease. It is known that exosomes are nanosized extracellular vesicles (EVs) that are released from various cell [...] Read more.
Background: Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer among women worldwide; therefore, the efforts of many scientists are aimed at finding effective biomarkers for this disease. It is known that exosomes are nanosized extracellular vesicles (EVs) that are released from various cell types, including cancer cells. Exosomes are directly involved in governing the physiological and pathological processes of an organism through the horizontal transfer of functional molecules (proteins, microRNA, etc.) from producing to receiving cells. Since the diagnosis and treatment of BC have been improved substantially with exosomes, in this study, we isolated breast carcinoma cell-derived exosomes, primary endotheliocyte-derived exosomes, and blood exosomes from BC patients (BCPs) in the first stage of disease and investigated their proteomic profiles. Methods: Exosomes were isolated from the samples by ultrafiltration and ultracentrifugation, followed by mass spectrometric and bioinformatics analyses of the data. The exosomal nature of vesicles was verified using transmission electron microscopy and flow cytometry. Results: Exosome proteins secreted by MCF-7 and BT-474 cells were found to form two clusters, one of which enhanced the malignant potential of cancer cells, while the other coincided with a cluster of HUVEC-derived exosome proteins. Despite the different ensembles of proteins in exosomes from the MCF-7 and BT-474 lines, the relevant portions of these proteins are involved in similar biological pathways. Comparison analysis revealed that more BC-associated proteins were found in the exosomal fraction of blood from BCPs than in the exosomal fraction of conditioned medium from cells mimicking the corresponding cancer subtype (89% and 81% for luminal A BC and MCF-7 cells and 86% and 80% for triple-positive BC and BT-474 cells, respectively). Conclusions: Tumor-associated proteins should be sought not in exosomes secreted by cell lines but in the composition of blood exosomes from cancer patients, while the contribution of endotheliocyte exosomes to the total pool of blood exosomes can be neglected. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Liquid Biopsy: Cancer Diagnostic Biomarkers of the Future)
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15 pages, 1672 KiB  
Article
Comparative Analysis of HPV Detection Efficiency: Evaluating Cobas 8800 Performance in Vaginal Self-Sampling versus Clinician-Collected Samples at a Regional Thai Hospital
by Umaporn Ruttanamora, Pinsawitar Thongsalak, Araya Sammor, Sirinart Chomean and Chollanot Kaset
Diagnostics 2024, 14(19), 2177; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics14192177 - 29 Sep 2024
Viewed by 1417
Abstract
Background: This study, conducted at a regional Thai hospital, assesses the comparative efficacy of self-collected versus clinician-collected samples for HPV detection using the Cobas 8800 system among Thai women aged 30–60. Methods: Our methodology involved analyzing 1541 self-collected and 1398 clinician-collected samples. Results: [...] Read more.
Background: This study, conducted at a regional Thai hospital, assesses the comparative efficacy of self-collected versus clinician-collected samples for HPV detection using the Cobas 8800 system among Thai women aged 30–60. Methods: Our methodology involved analyzing 1541 self-collected and 1398 clinician-collected samples. Results: The results show a statistically significant mean difference in cycle threshold (Ct) values favoring clinician-collected samples (1.53; 95% CI: 1.18–1.87, p < 0.0001). This pattern was consistent across various age groups, with the most pronounced differences noted in the oldest cohort (50–59 years), suggesting higher detection efficiency in clinician-collected samples. The study further explored the correlation of Ct values with cytological and histological outcomes, where clinician-collected samples demonstrated superior diagnostic performance, particularly in identifying LSIL and HSIL conditions, evidenced by AUC values of 0.793 and 0.866, respectively. While self-sampling remains a viable method, with sensitivity reaching up to 48.84% for LSIL and 46.15% for HSIL, clinician collection proved more accurate, likely influencing future national screening policies. Conclusions: This work underscores the need for robust sample collection methods and the importance of ongoing enhancements to self-sampling assays and techniques to ensure their efficacy in cervical cancer screening programs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Liquid Biopsy: Cancer Diagnostic Biomarkers of the Future)
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