Liquid Biopsies

During a retrospective study of 182 patients with nonresectable pancreatic cancer, a negative association was found between baseline circulating tumor (ct)DNA KRAS counts in plasma and overall survival (OS), which indicates that patients with lower KRAS burden in ctDNA survive longer.

Researchers for Caris Life Sciences have used the company's proprietary tumor profiling platform to identify biomarkers in GIST that may be used to identify more effective therapeutic regimens for individuals with TKI-resistant GIST.

Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) and Erdheim-Chester disease (ECD) are characterized by a high frequency of BRAFV600E mutations, which are responsive to treatment with BRAF inhibitors such as vemurafenib.

Early diagnosis of lung cancer is crucial, because surgery is curative only in the early stages. However, by the time most patients experience symptoms, the cancer has already progressed beyond the point of successful surgery.

The development of drug resistance in cancer cells presents a major obstacle to cancer treatments of all types, including small molecule inhibitors, monoclonal antibodies, and hormone therapy.

A “nano-cocoon” DNA drug delivery vehicle may offer several advantages over other nanotechnology-based delivery systems, according to new research.

A series of papers have been published in the journal Nature in which researchers conducted detailed comparisons of the worm, fly, and human genomes using data from the ENCODE and modENCODE projects.

A study using next-generation sequencing showed that genetic testing limited to BRCA1/2 mutations would have missed 29% of mutations that carry hereditary risk of ovarian cancer.

Raoul S. Concepcion, MD, FACS, Urology Associates P.C., discusses the potential for the 4Kscore test as a predictor of high-grade prostate cancer.

Urinary cell-free DNA analysis had near-100% accuracy for detecting BRAF mutations associated with histiocytic disease, according to a small clinical study reported at the 2014 ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago.

Mutational analysis is emerging as a powerful tool in oncology; from the identification and validation of a tumor-specific genetic lesion, to the development of therapeutic agents, to the subsequent, longitudinal assessment of acquired mutations.

The FDA has approved the radioactive diagnostic imaging agent Lymphoseek injection to guide sentinel lymph node biopsy in patients with cancer of the head and neck.

E. David Crawford, MD, professor, Urologic and Radiation Oncology, head, Section of Urologic Oncology, University of Colorado at Denver, discusses rebiopsying for prostate cancer.

The FDA’s Molecular and Clinical Genetics advisory committee has unanimously supported the safety, efficacy, and positive risk-benefit profile of the noninvasive stool-based DNA test Cologuard in a 10-0 vote.

Boris Kuvshinoff II, MD, MBA, associate professor, Division of Gastrointestinal/Endocrine Surgery, Department of Surgical Oncology, director, Liver and Pancreas Tumor Center, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, discusses microwave ablation therapy for the treatment of liver cancer.

E. David Crawford, MD, professor, Urologic and Radiation Oncology, head, Section of Urologic Oncology, University of Colorado at Denver, discusses prostate cancer biopsies.

Hassan Arshad, MD, assistant professor of oncology, head and neck surgeon, Department of Head and Neck Surgery/Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, discusses a new study that will be evaluating a new approach to photodynamic therapy in patients with head and neck cancer.

Screening for prostate-specific antigen (PSA) significantly cuts the death rate from prostate cancer, but at the same time, America’s medical community should work harder to avoid the screen’s potential pitfalls.

Although the use of CTCs as a “liquid biopsy” to detect tumor growth has long been a goal, developing the technology for detecting and analyzing CTCs has been a challenge.

A new study suggests that even tumor cells with a common genetic background can display functional heterogeneity.

Debu Tripathy, MD, Co-Leader, Women's Cancer Program, Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Southern California, describes intratumoral heterogeneity in patients with breast cancer.