An update of aberrant methylation detection on circulating cell-free DNA as a tool to improve prostate cancer diagnosis and prognosis

Abstract

Prostate cancer (PCa) remains a disease of high incidence, but orphan of a specific screening program. For this reason, non-invasive techniques capable to predict PCa in patients with high specificity and sensitivity are still an urgent need. One of the major goals is to improve the PCa diagnosis and the identification of patients who benefit from tissue biopsies. Another need is the necessity to have novel biomarkers to better stratify the risk of patients with PCa to predict the aggressiveness of the tumor and the overall survival. Liquid biopsy can be an important non-invasive tool to stratify PCa at the molecular level to improve diagnosis and prognosis, and, possibly, to develop screening programs and follow-up. With this review, we are reporting the lastest update of aberrant methylation detection on circulating tumor DNA as a tool to improve prostate cancer diagnosis and prognosis.