Skip to content
MRD Watch

Sunday, November 15, 2026

Subscribe
Sponsor this briefing. One site and newsletter slot, $250/week.

Independent briefing

Molecular residual disease across cancers, one sourced line at a time.

A daily briefing of sourced, fact-only updates on molecular residual disease, ctDNA, and MRD-relevant biomarkers across cancer types. Edited by Alan Tan, a genitourinary hematologist-oncologist. MRD and biomarker items are listed ahead of other news from the same stretch of days.

A free weekly MRD Watch email. No send date is set. Subscribe

Actively accruing studiesHow testing works
Edited by Alan Tan, MD
How a minimal residual disease test worksA tumor sheds DNA fragments into a blood draw and a urine sample. Sequencing finds those tumor fragments among normal DNA. After treatment, the result can read ctDNA detected or not detected.Tumor sheds DNABlood drawUrine sampleTumor DNA stands outTumorNormalAfter treatmentctDNA detectedNot detected

Latest Head and neck items. Open the Head and neck page.

How it works

A clear scan can still miss what is left

Drawn scanNo evidence of diseaseCells a scan does not show
The drawing starts as a clear scan labeled no evidence of disease, then shows small marks for residual cells.

“No evidence of disease” means the scan did not show a tumor. Alan Tan, MD, puts the gap this way, as an illustration rather than a cutoff: “To the human eye, a clear scan can still hide around 200 million cancer cells.” MRD testing, especially ultrasensitive MRD, looks for that leftover signal in blood.

How testing works

Today

Nov 15, 2026 ET

No update is dated today. The latest verified items are below, with MRD and biomarker reports ranked first.

Leading updates

Pinned items, then MRD and biomarker reports, then newer dates.

Head & neckPinnedMRD / ctDNATrials

Circulating Tumor DNA-Informed Adjuvant Therapy for Intermediate-Risk Head and Neck Cancer

NCT07932067 is a not-yet-recruiting phase 2 trial at UPMC Hillman (estimated enrollment 140), led by Kevin Contrera, of surgical drain-fluid ctDNA (LymphDetect Head and Neck) to inform adjuvant therapy in intermediate-risk, HPV-negative head and neck cancer, with 2-year locoregional control in SDF-positive intermediate-risk patients as the primary endpoint. The registry site is UPMC, not Cleveland Clinic.

ClinicalTrials.gov

Recent

The leading list already holds every item on file.