Exploration of Targeted Anti-tumor Therapy

Table 1. Description of liquid biopsy applied in HNC studies highlighted in this review

Circulating biomarkers	Biofluid types	HNC category	Molecular assays	Detection/isolation methods	References
cfDNA	Plasma	HNSCC	CNAs	NGS	[11, 12]
		HNSCC	Somatic mutations	ddPCR	[14]
		OPSCC	Somatic mutations	NGS	[16]
		HNSCC	Quantification	Qubit fluorescence	[23]
		OPC	DNA methylation	Q-MSP	[35]
		HNSCC	DNA methylation	qPCR; quasi-digital PCR	[36, 37]
		OPSCC	DNA methylation	ddPCR	[38]
	Plasma and saliva	OSCC	Somatic mutations	NGS	[21]
cfmtDNA	Plasma	HNSCC	Quantification	qPCR	[29]
cfHPVDNA	Plasma	OPSCC	Quantification	ddPCR	[39, 41, 42]
cfHPVDNA	Plasma	OPSCC	Quantification	qPCR	[40]
miRNAs	Plasma	Tongue SCC	Expression	PCR arrays	[49]
		LSCC	Expression	ddPCR; qRT-PCR	[50, 55]
		OSCC	Expression	NGS	[51]
		HNSCC	Expression	qRT-PCR	[54, 57]
		HNSCC	Expression	NGS	[59]
	Serum	OSCC	Expression	qRT-PCR	[52]
		LSCC	Expression	PCR arrays	[53]
		HNSCC	Expression	qRT-PCR	[56]
		LSCC	Expression	qRT-PCR	[58]
	Saliva	OSCC	Expression	qRT-PCR; PCR arrays	[60, 61]
		HNSCC	Expression	qRT-PCR; PCR arrays	[62]
				qRT-PCR; NGS	[63]
				PCR arrays	[64]
	Serum and saliva	Salivary gland tumors	Expression	qRT-PCR	[65]
lncRNAs	Plasma	HNSCC	Expression	PCR arrays; NGS	[66]
		OSCC	Expression	qRT-PCR	[67]
		HNC	Expression	Semiquantitative PCR	[68]
		HNSCC	Expression	qRT-PCR	[69]
CTCs	BM and bloodstream	HNSCC	Detection and counting	Immunocytochemistry and fluorescence microscopy	[72, 81]
	BM and bloodstream	HNSCC	Detection	RT-PCR	[73, 79]
	Bloodstream	HNSCC and OSCC	Detection and counting	Ficoll-Hypaque, dextran sedimentation and immunocytochemistry	[74, 76–78]
		HNSCC	Detection and counting	CellSearch^®	[75, 82]
		LAOC	Detection and counting	RosetteSep^TM technique and immunocytochemistry	[83]
		rHNSCC	Detection and counting	EPISPOT, FCM and CellSearch^®	[84]
		HNSCC	Detection and counting	SERS	[85]
EVs	Plasma	HNSCC	Quantification; characterization	Size-exclusion chromatography; FCM	[93, 94, 96, 99]
		OSCC	Cargo analysis (miRNAs profile)	Commercial kit; qRT-PCR	[100]
		HNSCC	Cargo analysis (miRNAs profile)	Commercial kit; qRT-PCR	[101]
		Tongue SCC	Cargo analysis (protein profile)	Centrifugation and size-exclusion chromatography; isobaric labelling (iTRAQ) and two-dimensional high-performance liquid chromatography followed by tandem mass spectrometry	[104]
	Saliva	OSCC	Cargo analysis (miRNAs profile)	Centrifugation; qRT-PCR array	[102]
			Cargo analysis (miRNAs profile)	Commercial kit; qRT-PCR array	[103]
			Cargo analysis (protein profile)	Ultracentrifugation; SWATH_MS (Sequential Window Acquisition of all Theoretical Mass Spectra)	[105]

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Declarations

Author contributions

MCJ, GA, and LD contributed conception and wrote the manuscript. MCJ provided the conception of the figure and table. All authors contributed to manuscript revision, read and approved the submitted version.

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

Not applicable.

Consent to participate

Not applicable.

Consent to publication

Not applicable.

Availability of data and materials

Not applicable.

Funding

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Copyright

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