{"entity":{"id":"paper-thromboseq-cancer-cell-2022","kind":"paper","name":"Detection and localization of early- and late-stage cancers using platelet RNA","aka":[],"tldr":"Dutch researchers showed that the RNA inside blood platelets changes when cancer is present, enough to detect 18 cancer types in a laboratory comparison, though people with other illnesses often tested falsely positive.","summary":"In 't Veld and colleagues used tumour-educated platelet RNA sequencing (thromboSeq) to detect 18 cancer types. At 99% specificity in asymptomatic controls it detected cancer in two-thirds of 1,096 samples from patients with stage I to IV cancer and in half of 352 stage I to III tumours. Symptomatic controls, including inflammatory and cardiovascular disease and benign tumours, had more false positives, with an average specificity of 78%. The tumour site of origin was correct in over 80% for five tumour types.","asOf":"2026-10-29","links":[{"label":"Cancer Cell 2022: thromboSeq","url":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccell.2022.08.006"},{"label":"PubMed","url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36055228/"}],"tags":[],"related":[],"cancers":[],"sections":["early-detection"],"technologies":["mced","rna-seq"],"targets":[],"drugs":["thromboseq"],"companies":[],"institutions":["amsterdam-umc"],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":["cancer-cell"],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"journal":"Cancer Cell","year":2022,"doi":"10.1016/j.ccell.2022.08.006","pmid":"36055228","authors":"In 't Veld SGJG, Arkani M, Post E, et al.","paperType":"translational","findings":["Two-thirds of 1,096 stage I to IV samples detected at 99% specificity in asymptomatic controls.","Half of 352 stage I to III tumours detected.","Specificity fell to 78% in people with other illnesses."],"whatItMeans":"A different source of signal, the platelets, with the warning every multi-cancer test faces: people who are ill with something else are more often flagged wrongly.","caveats":["Case-control; no screening cohort.","Specificity 78% in symptomatic controls."],"changedPractice":false,"participants":1096},"route":"/key-papers/paper-thromboseq-cancer-cell-2022/","neighbours":{"section":[{"id":"early-detection","kind":"section","name":"Early Detection & Screening","route":"/fronts/early-detection/"}],"technology":[{"id":"mced","kind":"technology","name":"Multi-cancer early detection (MCED)","route":"/technologies/mced/"},{"id":"rna-seq","kind":"technology","name":"RNA sequencing & expression profiling","route":"/technologies/rna-seq/"}],"drug":[{"id":"thromboseq","kind":"drug","name":"thromboSeq (tumour-educated platelet RNA)","route":"/drugs/thromboseq/"}],"institution":[{"id":"amsterdam-umc","kind":"institution","name":"Amsterdam UMC / Cancer Center Amsterdam","route":"/institutions/amsterdam-umc/"}],"journal":[{"id":"cancer-cell","kind":"journal","name":"Cancer Cell","route":"/journals/cancer-cell/"}]}}