Liquid biopsy in the clinical management of tumor of urinary system: current status and future developments

Urinary system tumors are a major threat to human health. However, there is a lack of reliable non-invasive examinations for urinary system tumors. Liquid biopsy is an emerging method for detecting biomarkers in patients in recent years. Its components mainly include circulating tumor cells, circulating tumor DNAs, circulating-free DNAs, circulating-free RNAs, exosomes and tumor educated platelets. Liquid biopsy is considered to be of great significance for the diagnosis, prognosis, treatment monitoring and medication guidance of cancers. The non-invasive characteristics of liquid biopsy significantly improve patients’ compliance and make it possible to collect patient information in real time and continuously. In this review, we selected urinary system tumors as the clinical application subjects of liquid biopsy. We believe that liquid biopsy has great potential value and application prospects in the clinical treatment of urinary system tumors.