liquid biopsy 2.0
Another clinical research area that Dr. Tamrazi is interested in is liquid biopsy, which offers a less invasive option than traditional tissue biopsy for detecting and monitoring certain types of cancers.
The field of liquid biopsy, which has made great strides in recent times, is based on the fact that a tumor often sheds cells, nucleic acids, proteins etc. into the surrounding environment. These “biomarkers” contain a great deal of information about the tumor and can be detected and studied from blood samples drawn from a patient’s vein.
Such information can be used to identify precise targets for treatment greatly improving the chances for a successful outcome for the patient.
In a landmark study, Dr. Tamrazi’s group recently demonstrated a novel interventional radiology technique to obtain liquid biopsy specimens enriched in solid tumor biomarkers such as circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and extracellular vesicles (Frontiers in Oncology, 2023).
This innovative technique of obtaining samples from “tumor-draining” veins close to a solid tumor has the potential to overcome the traditional limitation of liquid biopsy which is low levels of biomarkers when a blood sample is taken from a peripheral vein (eg., from the arm).
A blood sample taken from a vein that is close to a tumor (TDV or TPV) may contain more important information on that tumor than a sample taken from a peripheral vein in the arm (PV). Tamrazi et al, Frontiers in Oncology, 2023.
This promising pilot study needs to be further expanded to develop more sensitive and less invasive methods for detection and monitoring certain types of cancers.