. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2020 Nov 1.

Published in final edited form as: Expert Rev Mol Diagn. 2019 Sep 8;19(11):1031–1041. doi: 10.1080/14737159.2019.1664290

Table 3.

Markers detectable via liquid biopsy

Field of study	Cells being detected	Clinical Utility
Oncology	Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs), Circulating Tumor DNA (ctDNA) Circulating Tumor Microemboli (CTM)	CTCs, CTM and ctDNA are currently being studied as biomarkers in oncological screening, diagnosis, and treatment selection.
Cardiology	Circulating Endothelial Cells (CECs)	CECs are currently being studied as diagnostic biomarkers for endothelial damage. Studies have found CECs to be elevated in myocardial infarction, diabetic nephropathy, heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, and arterial hypertension.
Obstetrics	Cell-free Fetal DNA (cffDNA)	cffDNA from maternal blood has been studied to detect fetal aneuploidies, Rhesus-D status, fetal sex, single gene disorders, and pre-eclampsia.