ABSTRACT
With the development of precision medicine and individualized treatment, tissue biopsy in cancer patients diagnosis and therapy has been broadly used. However, because it’s hard to collect enough samples for biliary tract tumors, liquid biopsy was broadly applied for the diagnosis. In liquid biopsy, circulating tumor cells, circulating tumor DNA, and tumor-derived exosomes carrying tumor-specific information are released from tumor tissue into blood, bile, and other body fluids, which makes tumor biopsy samples easily to be obtained in a non-invasive way. At the same time, through a series of morphological and molecular measurements as well as genetic characterization, liquid biopsy can be used to look for the new early diagnostic markers, and therapeutic targets, monitoring progression and prognosis of diseases. This article outlined the current technology used to detect circulating tumor cells, circulating tumor DNA, and tumor-derived exosomes, and summarizes the latest advances in the clinical application of liquid biopsy in biliary tract cancers.