The potential use of urine cell free DNA as a marker for cancer

Introduction: Although the role of circulating cell free DNA in cancer has been widely demonstrated, less is known about the role of urine cell free DNA (UcfDNA). UcfDNA can serve as a ‘liquid biopsy’ for urological and non-urological tumors, as it carries information on DNA from cells exfoliated in urine and from circulation. Areas covered: We review the studies on UcfDNA as a source of biomarkers for cancer, focusing on the new techniques and the differences between urological and non-urological tumors. We searched Pubmed for articles published between 1998 and 2016 with the following key words and phrases: ‘urine’ and ‘cell free DNA’ or ‘liquid biopsy’ or ‘cancer’. Expert commentary: Despite the few papers published on this topic, UcfDNA is an important component of ‘liquid biopsy’, a useful and non-invasive tool for cancer diagnosis, prognosis and treatment monitoring, containing a wide range of genetic information.