Blood-derived biomarkers for gliomas would facilitate diagnostic and prognostic evaluation and assessment of treatment response. Extracellular vesicles, in particular, could be valuable, because they contain a variety of microRNAs, tumour DNA and metabolic markers that reflect the heterogeneous composition of the tumour. Here, Westphal and Lamszus provide an overview of the state of the art, prospects and challenges in development of circulating biomarkers for gliomas.
- Manfred Westphal
- Katrin Lamszus