Liquid Biopsy: The “Holy Grail”?
Circulating tumor cells (CTCs), tumor cells that are shed from primary tumors in the body and carried through the circulation, were discovered some 140 years ago. Researchers have struggled to create an efficient way of capturing these elusive and rare cancer cells, and perform genetic analysis to learn about their growth characteristics and molecular evolution. I’m inspired and encouraged by the work of Dr. Bert Vogelstein, at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Vogelstein is credited with having proved that damaged DNA causes cancer. Nearly every type of cancer sheds DNA into the bloodstream, so Vogelstein and his colleagues are trying to prove that cancer can be diagnosed much earlier -- perhaps decades earlier -- using a procedure called "liquid biopsy." But the technology isn't clinic-ready yet, and the screening process is still too expensive. We are nowhere near the reality of liquid biopsy being used in, for instance, your annual check-up. Making such screening