On February 11, 2021, Bio-Techne Corporation (NASDAQ:TECH) announced that Exosome Diagnostics, a Bio-Techne brand, has recently published a review article entitled “Exosome-Based Liquid Biopsies in Cancer: Opportunities and Challenges” (Yu, W et al.), in Annals of Oncology (https://www.annalsofoncology.org/article/S0923-7534(21)00103-4/fulltext). This review, published online on February 3, 2021, provides unique insight into liquid biopsies and the field of exosomes in the context of other liquid biopsy approaches such as cell-free DNA (cfDNA) and circulating tumor cell (CTC) analysis. The exosome field has gone through a rapid growth phase in parallel with the increasing attention over the potential of liquid biopsies. Despite recent progress of liquid biopsies for late-stage cancers, there remains a need to improve both the accuracy and utility of these tests, especially in earlier-stage cancers. This will likely require a combination of approaches that exploit biomarkers released through different processes. Exosomes are released from living cancer cells as an active metabolic process, and carry RNA, DNA, and proteins. The open-access article describes how the use of the multi-analyte component of exosomes either alone or in combination with other types of liquid biopsies will be an important tool to overcome limitations with many of the current liquid biopsies, including low signal-to-noise ratio. The inadequacies of tissue biopsy paired with the paradigm shift to molecular analysis, have driven increasing interest in the molecular profiling of biofluids, also known as "liquid biopsy." This approach offers a significant step forward because of its less invasive nature, lower cost, and real-time insights into tumor status.Login Or Register To Read Full Story