Blood-based liquid biopsies are considered a screening approach for early cancer detection. Sequencing technologies enable in-depth analyses of nucleic acids, including mutant cell-free (cf) DNA in the plasma. However, in blood of patients with early-stage cancer the detection level of mutant cfDNA is relatively low, and complicated by the natural presence of non-cancer cfDNA mutants attributed to aging-related processes. Consequently, analysis of methylated cfDNA patterns and alternative approaches such as tumor-educated platelets (TEPs) are gaining traction for the detection of early-stage tumors. Here, we dissect the use of platelet RNA as a potential biomarker for the development of early-stage, pan-cancer blood tests.

中文翻译：

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血小板RNA作为癌症检测的全肿瘤生物标志物。

基于血液的液体活检被认为是早期癌症检测的筛查方法。测序技术可对核酸进行深入分析，包括血浆中无突变的无细胞（cf）DNA。然而，在患有早期癌症的患者的血液中，突变体cfDNA的检测水平相对较低，并且由于归因于衰老相关过程的非癌症cfDNA突变体的天然存在而变得复杂。因此，对甲基化cfDNA模式的分析以及诸如肿瘤培养血小板（TEPs）之类的替代方法在检测早期肿瘤方面越来越受到关注。在这里，我们剖析了将血小板RNA用作早期泛癌血液测试发展的潜在生物标记。