Table 3 Advantages and disadvantages of current technologies in biomarker discovery

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