In New York, a blood test predicted lung cancer recurrence — News-Medical

Researchers at NYU Langone Health in New York reported that liquid biopsy — a blood test for circulating tumor DNA — can detect signs of minimal residual disease and predict the risk of early-stage lung cancer recurrence. As News-Medical reports, a positive result from such a test detected microscopic traces of a tumor several months before the neoplasm became visible in imaging studies.

Monitoring tumor DNA

The study focused on stage IA lung adenocarcinoma. The authors collected blood samples serially at different stages of treatment and tracked the level of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), which tumor cells release into the bloodstream.

The analysis used liquid biopsy technology based on whole-genome sequencing. The researchers consider a positive tumor DNA test to be a sensitive marker of minimal residual disease. At the same time, according to their data, a negative result had a strong association with sustained remission.

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Potential significance for treatment

Non-small cell lung cancer is the most common type of lung cancer. Small tumors at stages I–II are usually removed surgically, but even at stage I, recurrence rates range from 5% to 19%. Imaging examinations are currently the standard for follow-up monitoring.

According to the authors, ctDNA analysis may help identify patients at high or low risk of the disease returning earlier. If signs of a residual tumor are present in the blood, test results could potentially be useful for choosing postoperative treatment, while a negative result could help avoid overtreatment and its toxicity. The results were published in The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics.