This review, published in the Annals of Oncology, discusses the role of liquid biopsies in the field of immuno-oncology to predict response, relapse or adverse events in cancer patients treated with immunotherapy.

A liquid biopsy is a test done on a sample of blood to look for cancer cells from a tumour that are circulating in the blood or for pieces of DNA from tumour cells that are in the blood. Liquid biopsies may be used to help find cancer at an early stage.

The development of cancer immunotherapy has led to new challenges for the development of relevant biomarkers. As treatment needs to be tracked over time, the identification of biomarkers in liquid biopsies is urgently needed. This article reviews recent advances in liquid biopsy for cancer immunotherapy and identifies current challenges that need to be addressed before liquid biopsies become routine practice.

Read the review in Annals of Oncology here