Table 3.

Advantages and disadvantages of current technologies in biomarker discovery

Biomarker	Detection Technology	Advantages	Disadvantages
Proteins and peptides	Mass spectrometry	High specificity, accurate identification of proteins	Requires significant optimization, time-consuming, limited dynamic range of detection, affected by abundant proteins
	Affinity-based multiplex assays	High throughput, allows absolute quantification, requires small sample amounts, does not require depletion of abundant proteins	Detection limited to selected protein targets, potential cross reactivity of antibodies or aptamers may contribute to false positives
ctDNA	Digital PCR	Cost effective, high accuracy and reproducibility	Lacks standardization and is limited to 1–2 mutations per test
	BEAMing	High sensitivity, accuracy, and reproducibility	Lacks standardization and is limited to a single mutation per test
	Next generation sequencing	Allows large-scale coverage	Costly and complex, low sensitivity
miRNA and lncRNA	Quantitative PCR	Widely used, straightforward, and cost effective	Requires a standard curve and specificity is dependent on primer design
Exosomes	ExoScreen	High throughput, requires small sample amounts, and eliminates complicated isolation steps	Lacks normalization and standardization
Circulating tumor cells	Cell Search	Highly specific and robust, and has minimal variability	Requires known cell surface marker (i.e. EpCAM) to capture cells
	Slated spiral microfluidics	Fast processing time and cost effective	Requires large sample volume
Circulating immune cells	Flow cytometry	High throughput, able to screen multiple markers simultaneously	Limited number of markers due to spectral overlap
	Mass cytometry	High throughput, able to screen multiple markers simultaneously	Requires significant expertise, slow acquisition rate and requires more stringent sample preparation