"Liquid Biopsy: exosomes. Their role in the confrontation of cancer"

Abstract

The present study constitutes an extensive literature review of the prognostic and diagnostic biomarkers, as well as the “mixed” biomarkers (that may be used for both the diagnosis and the prognosis of patients) that can be used for the assessment of patients with heart failure.

In total, the study consists of 6 chapters. The first chapter presents the syndrome of heart failure (causes, symptoms etc.), as well as the defense mechanisms that are activated by the human organism for the maintenance of homeostasis, while the second chapter refers to sudden cardiac death and its association with heart failure. A noteworthy part of this chapter is the reference to the prevention of sudden cardiac death in both primary and secondary stages. Both the third and fourth chapters are dedicated to biomarkers that are associated to the syndrome of heart failure. More specifically, in the third chapter, purely diagnostic biomarkers (electrocardiogram, chest x-ray, natriuretic peptides etc.) are presented, while in the fourth chapter, the prognostic biomarkers of heart failure are presented, as well as those biomarkers that may be considered as “mixed”, such as interleukin-1β, osteopontin and cystatin-C. It appears that all of these biomarkers have been studied to a great extent, both by the research and medical communities, for the global and more effective assessment of the syndrome. The fifth chapter, introduces readers to an innovative laboratory investigation, the “metabolomics” that can offer significant help towards the pathophysiological assessment of the syndrome, through the analysis of the metabolism of the human organism. Finally, the sixth chapter includes the conclusions reached by the literature review, while at the end of the dissertation, the large number of references studied for the purpose of this review, are indicated.  

KAZAKOS Vasilios