Thursday, November 12, 2026
Cancer type
Lung cancer updates on ctDNA detection before and after resection, and on adjuvant therapy.
A Cell paper published online November 7, 2025, applied a whole-genome tumor-informed ctDNA assay to 2,994 plasma samples from 431 patients with non-small cell lung cancer in TRACERx and reported that detection below 80 parts per million, before and after surgery, was prognostic, and that patients who cleared ctDNA during adjuvant therapy had better outcomes.
Cell
In the January 13, 2025 Nature Medicine TRACERx analysis, lung adenocarcinomas with preoperative ctDNA detected below 80 parts per million still had worse overall survival than ctDNA-negative adenocarcinomas (HR 12.33; 95% CI 1.63 to 93.35).
Nature Medicine
A Nature Medicine paper published January 13, 2025, tested preoperative plasma from 171 TRACERx patients and detected ctDNA in 76 of 94 lung adenocarcinomas (81%), including 16 of 28 with stage I adenocarcinoma, and in 77 of 77 non-adenocarcinoma non-small cell lung cancers.
Nature Medicine
The MolDX billing article A58434, in the revision effective January 1, 2026, lists Signatera for the diagnosis of recurrence or relapse in patients with a personal history of non-small cell lung cancer.
CMS MolDX
The ESMO 2024 IMpower010 ctDNA update reported that chemotherapy converted 62% of patients who were ctDNA-positive after surgery to ctDNA-negative, and that this clearance was associated with longer disease-free survival.
Annals of Oncology
At ESMO 2024, an updated IMpower010 analysis of resected stage II to IIIA non-small cell lung cancer reported that postoperative ctDNA positivity was a negative prognostic factor for disease-free survival after at least 5 years of follow-up, and that disease-free survival was longer with atezolizumab than with best supportive care in both ctDNA-positive and ctDNA-negative groups.
Annals of Oncology