Tumor heterogeneity and the potential role of liquid biopsy in bladder cancer.

ABSTRACT: Bladder cancer (BC) is a heterogeneous disease that characterized by genomic instability and a high mutation rate. Heterogeneity in tumor may partially explain the diversity of responses to targeted therapies and the various clinical outcomes. A combination of cytology and cystoscopy is the standard methodology for BC diagnosis, prognosis, and disease surveillance. However, genomics analyses of single tumor-biopsy specimens may underestimate the mutational burden of heterogeneous tumors. Liquid biopsy, as a promising technology, enables analysis of tumor components in the bodily fluids, such as blood and urine, at multiple time points and provides a minimally invasive approach that can track the evolutionary dynamics and monitor tumor heterogeneity. In this review, we describe the multiple

SUBMITTER: Huang HM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7896752 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature