Push residual disease detection a hundredfold deeper with whole-genome methods
Current blood tests miss leftover cancer in many patients. Reading thousands of mutations at once, rather than a few dozen, can detect far smaller amounts.
Whole-genome and error-corrected duplex approaches integrate signal across thousands to millions of tumour-specific sites, plus fragmentomic and methylation features, reaching detection limits reported near one part per million in research settings. Cost, turnaround and bioinformatics reproducibility are the barriers, not biology. If the limit of detection falls by two orders of magnitude, ctDNA-negative results become genuinely informative.
- Dormant cells and minimal residual disease · After a 'successful' treatment, cells can sleep for years then relapse. We can barely detect them and cannot target them.
- Most lethal cancers are found late · Screening exists for only a few cancers. Pancreatic, ovarian, liver, oesophageal and most lung cancers are found when cure is unlikely.
- Biomarkers are not validated or standardised · Tests that decide who gets a drug are often not validated prospectively and are measured differently in every lab.
Pages like this
not linked directly; found by shared links- IdeaReference materials and open proficiency testing for residual disease tests
Shares Foresight Diagnostics, Variant allele frequency (VAF), Dormant cells and minimal residual disease, Minimal / molecular residual disease (MRD).
- TechnologyContinuous and near-continuous ctDNA monitoring
Shares Foresight Diagnostics, cfDNA fragmentomics, Circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA), Minimal / molecular residual disease (MRD).
- IdeaTake the blood test, and give the drug, at the right time of day
Shares Circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA), Dormant cells and minimal residual disease, Minimal / molecular residual disease (MRD), Biomarkers are not validated or standardised.
- TechnologyctDNA monitoring in lymphoma (PhasED-seq, clonoSEQ)
Shares Foresight Diagnostics, Circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA), Dormant cells and minimal residual disease, Minimal / molecular residual disease (MRD).
- IdeaCertified reference samples to benchmark every tumour-DNA blood test
Shares Variant allele frequency (VAF), Circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA), Minimal / molecular residual disease (MRD), Biomarkers are not validated or standardised.
- IdeaBank yearly blood from cancer survivors so future tests can be validated
Shares Circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA), Dormant cells and minimal residual disease, Minimal / molecular residual disease (MRD), Most lethal cancers are found late.
- Key paperGALAXY: tumour DNA in blood four weeks after bowel cancer surgery predicts relapse tenfold
Shares Variant allele frequency (VAF), Circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA), Dormant cells and minimal residual disease, Minimal / molecular residual disease (MRD).
- IdeaRead the spinal fluid to track brain tumours without opening the skull
Shares Circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA), Dormant cells and minimal residual disease, Minimal / molecular residual disease (MRD), Biomarkers are not validated or standardised.