Traditional cancer diagnosis relies on tissue biopsy, blood testing as well as medical imaging. By the detection moment, in most cases the tumor size may reach several millimeters and the risk of distant metastasis is unavoidable. Even, following drug treatment, there is no accurate and timely way to follow up the success of treatment. New reliable tumor-specific biomarkers/tools that allow non-invasive early cancer detection as well as monitoring of anti-cancer therapeutic regime is highly demanded.
To tackle limitations of traditional cancer management, liquid biopsy has emerged which screen bodily fluids using ultrasensitive biosensing systems capable of simultaneous capturing and studying horizontal gene transfer (HGT) materials including circulating tumor cells (CTCs), exosomes, cell-free DNA, and apoptotic bodies. These are messengers and/or delivery systems by which tumor cells are communicating as well as transforming/sharing new phenotypes with each other resulting in drug resistance, distant metastatic outbreaks, and cancer recurrence. Acting as next-generation prognostic and therapeutic tools call for understanding the molecular mechanisms by which HGT works to transfer genetic information among distant tumor cells.
We welcome research and review papers in the field of liquid biopsy and HGT materials including exosomes, cell-free DNA, apoptotic bodies, and circulating tumor cells which cover one of the following subjects:
• Novel discoveries on behaviors and molecular mechanisms/pathogenesis of HGT materials in the
development of different cancer stages
• Tumor heterogeneity and HGT materials employed by different types of cancers
• Development of novel modeling systems to capture and study HGT
• Biosensors and microfluidic systems as POCTs for HGT
• Exosomes as drug delivery systems for cancer
• Liquid biopsy, single-cell approaches, and precision medicine
Please note: manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics or computational analysis of public genomic or transcriptomic databases which are not accompanied by validation (independent cohort
or biological validation in vitro or in vivo) are out of scope for this section and will not be accepted as part of this Research Topic.
Traditional cancer diagnosis relies on tissue biopsy, blood testing as well as medical imaging. By the detection moment, in most cases the tumor size may reach several millimeters and the risk of distant metastasis is unavoidable. Even, following drug treatment, there is no accurate and timely way to follow up the success of treatment. New reliable tumor-specific biomarkers/tools that allow non-invasive early cancer detection as well as monitoring of anti-cancer therapeutic regime is highly demanded.
To tackle limitations of traditional cancer management, liquid biopsy has emerged which screen bodily fluids using ultrasensitive biosensing systems capable of simultaneous capturing and studying horizontal gene transfer (HGT) materials including circulating tumor cells (CTCs), exosomes, cell-free DNA, and apoptotic bodies. These are messengers and/or delivery systems by which tumor cells are communicating as well as transforming/sharing new phenotypes with each other resulting in drug resistance, distant metastatic outbreaks, and cancer recurrence. Acting as next-generation prognostic and therapeutic tools call for understanding the molecular mechanisms by which HGT works to transfer genetic information among distant tumor cells.
We welcome research and review papers in the field of liquid biopsy and HGT materials including exosomes, cell-free DNA, apoptotic bodies, and circulating tumor cells which cover one of the following subjects:
• Novel discoveries on behaviors and molecular mechanisms/pathogenesis of HGT materials in the
development of different cancer stages
• Tumor heterogeneity and HGT materials employed by different types of cancers
• Development of novel modeling systems to capture and study HGT
• Biosensors and microfluidic systems as POCTs for HGT
• Exosomes as drug delivery systems for cancer
• Liquid biopsy, single-cell approaches, and precision medicine
Please note: manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics or computational analysis of public genomic or transcriptomic databases which are not accompanied by validation (independent cohort
or biological validation in vitro or in vivo) are out of scope for this section and will not be accepted as part of this Research Topic.