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World J Gastrointest Oncol. Sep 15, 2021; 13(9): 1073-1085
Published online Sep 15, 2021. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v13.i9.1073
Potential utility of liquid biopsies in the management of patients with biliary tract cancers: A review
Rohan Shotton, Angela Lamarca, Juan Valle, Mairéad G McNamara
Rohan Shotton, Angela Lamarca, Juan Valle, Mairéad G McNamara, Department of Medical Oncology, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester M20 4BX, United Kingdom
Angela Lamarca, Juan Valle, Mairéad G McNamara, Division of Cancer Sciences, School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, United Kingdom
Author contributions: Shotton R and McNamara MG designed the content of the manuscript, which was written by Shotton R (including the table and figure); all co-authors reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: RS: Received travel and meeting funding from Servier; AL: Received travel and educational support from Ipsen, Pfizer, Bayer, AAA, Sirtex, Novartis, Mylan and Delcath. Speaker honoraria from Merck, Pfizer, Ipsen, and Incyte. Advisory honoraria from EISAI, Nutricia Ipsen, QED, and Roche. Member of the Knowledge Network and NETConnect Initiatives funded by Ipsen; JWV: Consulting or advisory role for Agios, AstraZeneca, Delcath Systems, Keocyt, Genoscience Pharma, Incyte, Ipsen, Merck, Mundipharma EDO, Novartis, PCI Biotech, Pfizer, Pieris Pharmaceuticals, QED, and Wren Laboratories; Speakers’ Bureau for Imaging Equipment Limited, Ipsen, Novartis, Nucana; and received Travel Grants from Celgene and Nucana; MMN: Received research grant support from Servier, Ipsen, and NuCana. She has received travel and accommodation support from Bayer and Ipsen and speaker honoraria from Pfizer, Ipsen, NuCana, and Mylan. She has served on advisory boards for Incyte, Celgene, Ipsen, Sirtex, and Baxalta.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Mairéad G McNamara, MBChB, PhD, Senior Lecturer, Division of Cancer Sciences, School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, United Kingdom. mairead.mcnamara@nhs.net
Received: February 16, 2021
Peer-review started: February 16, 2021
First decision: May 3, 2021
Revised: June 14, 2021
Accepted: August 11, 2021
Article in press: August 11, 2021
Published online: September 15, 2021
Processing time: 205 Days and 20.5 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Liquid biopsies represent an enticing prospect in biliary tract cancer. In this review, we discuss the rationale, methods and utility of liquid biopsies for predictive and prognostic purposes, including circulating tumour DNA, circulating tumour cells and circulating microRNA. A summary is provided of current trials utilising liquid biopsies in biliary tract cancer.