Liquid profi ling of circulating nucleic acids as a novel tool for the management of cancer patients

Liquid profi ling is a traditional concept in laboratory diagnostics using patterns of blood-derived biochemical molecules for disease detection and characterization. Beyond protein and cellular parameters, molecular biomarkers at the DNA, RNA and miRNA level have been developed as promising diagnostic tools in metabolic and malignant diseases as new technologies for ultrasensitive profi ling of nucleic acids in blood and body fl uids became available. In cancer disease, they are successfully applied for the stratifi cation of patients for individually tailored therapies, treatment monitoring and the sensitive detection of minimal residual disease. Due to its minimally invasive nature, blood-based qualitative and quantitative determinations of targeted and global molecular changes can be applied serially and complement well-established molecular tissue diagnostics. Interdisciplinary interaction between laboratory medicine, pathology and human genetics will speed up the development of liquid nucleic acid profi ling as a most valuable tool for precision medicine.