Cancer Liquid Biopsy Market Assessment

This report contains markets for the following:

• Breast Cancer Liquid Biopsy Market (by Region - US, EUR, ASIA, ROW) 
• Breast Cancer Significant Liquid Biopsy Products on Market 
• Colorectal Cancer Liquid Biopsy Market (by Region - US, EUR, ASIA, ROW) 
• Colorectal Cancer Significant Liquid Biopsy Products on Market 
• Lung Cancer Liquid Biopsy Market (by Region - US, EUR, ASIA, ROW) 
• Lung Cancer Significant Liquid Biopsy Products on Market 
• Ovarian Cancer Liquid Biopsy Market (by Region - US, EUR, ASIA, ROW) 
• Ovarian Cancer Significant Liquid Biopsy Products on Market 
• Pancreatic Cancer Liquid Biopsy Market (by Region - US, EUR, ASIA, ROW) 
• Pancreatic Cancer Significant Liquid Biopsy Products on Market 
• Other Cancer Liquid Biopsy Market (by Region - US, EUR, ASIA, ROW) 
• Other Cancer Significant Liquid Biopsy Products on Market 
• Top Ten Companies in the Market 

The currently available liquid biopsy technologies employ the analysis of various types of analytes, including circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), circulating tumor cells (CTCs), extracellular vesicles, proteins, miRNA and mRNA. Among them, ctDNA and CTCs have been the most explored technologies for commercial applications up to the present time.

Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) encompasses the small fragments of DNA that are believed to originate from the natural and abnormal necrosis and apoptosis processes that tumor cells undergo regularly. ctDNA fragments have the advantage of being available from different types of specimens, including urine, plasma, blood, and cerebrospinal fluid, but are rare and have a short half-life in the bloodstream, which makes their isolation and identification highly challenging. Since many cancer patients shed only very small DNA fragments into the bloodstream, ctDNA-based diagnostic technologies need to be highly sensitive in order to detect such rare events. Furthermore, ctDNA cannot provide information about protein expression, and the analysis of RNA is also difficult and limited using ctDNA. ctDNA may also result from tumor cells killed by therapeutic drugs, and does not capture information about the residual cancer that may not respond to the particular therapy or has become resistant to it.

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are cancer cells that are believed to detach from primary or secondary tumors and enter the bloodstream, traveling to distant organs, initiating the process of metastasis, and forming new tumors. Similarly to ctDNA, CTC-based tests could offer significant advantages compared to tissue biopsies, as they may be able to capture the heterogeneity of tumors and their genetic evolution during the disease progression and therapy. Compared to ctDNA, CTCs have a longer half-life in blood, and the analysis of viable cells could provide information about protein expression, such as PD-L1 or ER, which is not possible with ctDNA. Also, since CTCs contain intact genomic material from tumors, their analysis can reveal additional information about the biology of cancer and metastasis that is not possible to obtain from ctDNA.

Exosomes are nanometer-sized extracellular membrane vesicles secreted by cells in the extracellular environment on a continuous basis. Exosomes circulate in great abundance and are highly stable in all biological fluids, and contain molecular information from their parental cells, included in proteins and various nucleic acids. Moreover, exosomes are involved in many cellular processes and carry information about tumor growth, metastasis, and drug resistance, which is not available from the analysis of circulating free DNA. Despite their advantages, the analysis of exosomes for diagnostic purposes poses various challenges that complicate considerably their use in the development of commercial diagnostics. Due to the complex composition of biological fluids, the detection and isolation of high purity exosomes is a long process that imposes the use of multiple techniques based on various parameters.

This report segments market by type of cancer and corresponding regional market. For segmentation by type of analyte and type of application, see Kalorama's larger study on Liquid Biopsy Markets. "