Review: Peering through a keyhole: liquid biopsy in primary and metastatic central nervous system tumours

Tumour molecular profiling by liquid biopsy is being investigated for a wide range of research and clinical purposes. The possibility of repeatedly interrogating the tumour profile using minimally invasive procedures is helping to understand spatial and temporal tumour heterogeneity, and to shed a light on mechanisms of resistance to targeted therapies. Moreover, this approach has been already implemented in clinical practice to address specific decisions regarding patients' follow up and therapeutic management. For central nervous system tumours (CNS), molecular profiling is particularly relevant for the proper characterization of primary neoplasms, while CNS metastases can significantly diverge from primary disease or extra-CNS metastases, thus compelling a dedicated assessment. Based on these considerations, effective liquid biopsy tools for CNS tumours are highly warranted and a significant amount of data has been accrued over the last few years. These results have shown that liquid biopsy can provide clinically-meaningful information about both primary and metastatic CNS tumours, but specific considerations must be taken into account, for example when choosing the source of liquid biopsy. Nevertheless, this approach is especially attractive for CNS tumours, since repeated tumour sampling is not feasible. The aim of our review is, therefore, to thoroughly report the state-of-the-art regarding the opportunities and challenges posed by liquid biopsy in both primary and secondary CNS tumours. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.