IMR Press / FBL / Volume 29 / Issue 2 / DOI: 10.31083/j.fbl2902080
Open Access Review
Tumor-Educated Platelet RNA and Circulating Free RNA: Emerging Liquid Biopsy Markers for Different Tumor Types
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1 Third Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Shanxi Bethune Hospital, Shanxi Academy of Medical Sciences, Tongji Shanxi Hospital, 030032 Taiyuan, Shanxi, China
2 Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Shanxi Bethune Hospital, Shanxi Academy of Medical Sciences, Tongji Shanxi Hospital, 030032 Taiyuan, Shanxi, China
*Correspondence: haoliangzhao@hotmail.com (Haoliang Zhao); jfhe@sxmu.edu.cn (Jiefeng He)
These authors contributed equally.
Front. Biosci. (Landmark Ed) 2024, 29(2), 80; https://doi.org/10.31083/j.fbl2902080
Submitted: 2 August 2023 | Revised: 29 November 2023 | Accepted: 6 December 2023 | Published: 22 February 2024
Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s). Published by IMR Press.
This is an open access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Abstract

The incidence and mortality from malignant tumors continue to rise each year. Consequently, early diagnosis and intervention are vital for improving patient’ prognosis and survival. The traditional pathological tissue biopsy is currently considered the gold standard for cancer diagnosis. However, it suffers from several limitations including invasiveness, sometimes not repeatable or unsuitable, and the inability to capture the dynamic nature of tumors in terms of space and time. Consequently, these limit the application of tissue biopsies for the diagnosis of early-stage tumors and have redirected the research focus towards liquid biopsies. Blood-based liquid biopsies have thus emerged as a promising option for non-invasive assessment of tumor-specific biomarkers. These minimally invasive, easily accessible, and reproducible tests offer several advantages, such as being mostly complication-free and efficient at monitoring tumor progression and tracing drug resistance. Liquid biopsies show great potential for cancer prediction, diagnosis, and prognostic assessment. Circulating tumor-educated platelets (TEPs) possess the unique ability to absorb nucleic acids from the bloodstream and to modify transcripts derived from megakaryocytes in response to external signals. In addition, circulating free RNA (cfRNA) constitutes a significant portion of the biomolecules present in the bloodstream. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the current research status regarding TEP RNA and cfRNA in liquid biopsies from various tumor types. Our analysis includes cancers of the lung, liver, pancreas, breast, nasopharynx, ovary and colon, as well as multiple myeloma and sarcoma. By synthesizing this information, we intend to establish a solid theoretical foundation for exploring potential applications of circulating RNA as a reliable biomarker for tumor diagnosis and monitoring.

Keywords
cancer
liquid biopsy
tumor-educated platelets
plasma
serum
biomarker
RNA
Funding
20210001/Human Resources and Social Security Department System of Shanxi Province
2021-116/Shanxi Scholarship Council of China
2019XY002/Shanxi ‘136’ Leading Clinical Key Specialty
Shanxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Diseases
Figures
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