According to the definition of liquid biopsy it is the analysis of any body fluids, but primarily blood, for telltale signs of disease. Typical analytes include circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), cell-free DNA (cfDNA), circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and exosomes, which are small lipid particles with proteins and nucleic acids that provide a small sample of the cell cytoplasm. The majority of these biomarkers are used in the context of oncology, hence the name, liquid biopsy, which is in contrast to solid biopsy or regular biopsy of solid tissue. However, cfDNA can be found in managing other diseases or conditions such as organ transplant.

Liquid biopsy is becoming quite common in oncology: Liquid Biopsies for Cancer: What to Know and What to Expect | Cancer.Net, however, there are problems of standardization which we solve. The combination of novel equipment and different data handling is a good example of Sanus’ value of combining our expertise in both the physical and analytical sides of bio-computation, the former including both liquid biopsy technologies and sample preparation requirements for different analytes, while the latter involves standardization also known as “harmonization” of information handling from data collection, tracking and analysis.