1. ¹Department of Chemical Pathology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
2. ²Li Ka Shing Institute of Health Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
3. ³State Key Laboratory in Oncology in South China, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China

Correspondence: Professor YMD Lo, Department of Chemical Pathology, Room 38023, 1/F, Clinical Sciences Building, Prince of Wales Hospital, 30-32 Ngan Shing Street, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong SAR; E-mail: loym@cuhk.edu.hk

Received 17 October 2006; Revised 8 January 2007; Accepted 16 January 2007; Published online 20 February 2007.

Abstract

Tumour-associated changes have been observed in the circulating nucleic acids of cancer patients and have been proposed to be useful for the detection and monitoring of cancers. In this review, different approaches for detecting tumour-associated nucleic acids in the circulation and their potential applications as tumour markers are discussed.