Liquid biopsies in lung cancer—a narrative review

Abstract

Background and Objective: The use of liquid biopsies to detect not only genetic and epigenetic alterations in circulating DNA but also to identify circulating non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) is a promising tool for diagnosis, prognosis and prediction of therapy outcome of cancer patients. The objective of the narrative review is to describe the genetically and epigenetically altered circulating DNA as well as the identification of microRNAs (miRNAs), long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and circular RNAs (circRNAs) in both peripheral blood and other bodily fluids, but also in exosomes as potential biomarkers for lung cancer identification. Methods:In the following article we summarized important aspects from the studies listed in database PubMed using keywords "circulating, cell-free DNA, RNA, ncRNAs, microRNAs, lncRNAs, circRNAs, exosomes" and "lung cancer" from 1985-2022. A total of 450 articles were considered and 149 relevant articles were included in the review.