The last post has given an introduction to liquid biopsy and its first four applications. This post is to analyze this rest four:

Cancer Treatment

Last year, some companies began to establish genetic map of cancer through mutated DNA fragments found in the blood. This “diagnosis and treatment” test can be used to determine which medication is suitable for the patients because cancer is caused by a specific mutation and they have a good response to certain drugs.

Moreover, since the amount of tumor DNA in the blood is in proportion to the DNA size and stage, this detection can also be applied to determine the effect of surgery or drug treatment. For some disease like lung cancer that tissue biopsy is hard to tackle with, liquid biopsy is particularly useful.

Cancer prediction

In the early future, a major application of liquid biopsy is to detect cancer before any symptoms appear. Studies have shown that blood tests can detect tumor before seeing it. This screening test is still in the development stage and it may still need years of study.

Organ Transplantation

Kidney, heart or liver transplants may also be considered as genome transplantation. After the transplant, the cells containing the NDA of other people appeared in the recipient’s body. Doctors believe that tracking those DNA by liquid biopsy can determine whether they are excluded by the organs. Researchers at Stanford University collected the blood of 44 adults and 21 children heart transplant patients, and they found that they can track the signs of organ rejection. For those patients receiving bone marrow transplants, liquid biopsy is also proved to be useful.

Type I diabetes

In type I diabetes, the body killed β cells that producing insulin because of immune response. This year, a group of US scientists have collected the blood of 50 people who are suffering from disease risk, trying to find excess DNA of β cells.