Thursday, November 12, 2026
Tag
Data presented at ASCO, ESMO, ASH, SABCS, and similar meetings.
At ESMO 2026, the PROMPT matched tissue-and-plasma series of 301 patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer reported that plasma ctDNA detected 50 of 61 patients with a BRCA1/2 or other HRR mutation and added 4 patients beyond tissue sequencing, with matched leukocyte DNA used to separate clonal hematopoiesis.
UroToday
In the phase 2/3 DYNAMIC-III trial published in Nature Medicine on October 20, 2025, 702 of 968 evaluable patients with stage III colon cancer were ctDNA-negative 5 to 6 weeks after surgery; 3-year recurrence-free survival was 87% if ctDNA-negative and 49% if ctDNA-positive, de-escalation in the ctDNA-negative group did not meet non-inferiority (85.3% versus 88.1%), and escalation in the ctDNA-positive group did not improve 2-year recurrence-free survival (51% versus 61%).
Nature Medicine
In a 66-patient retrospective series presented at ASCO GU 2026, baseline Signatera ctDNA positivity before curative-intent treatment for urothelial carcinoma was associated with shorter recurrence-free survival (HR 5.15; 95% CI 1.41 to 18.78).
Journal of Clinical Oncology
An ASCO GU 2026 proof-of-concept series of 33 ctDNA samples from 21 patients with germ cell tumors, most of them marker-negative, reported 100% concordance between ctDNA detection and radiologic or pathologic disease status across the treatment phases assessed.
Journal of Clinical Oncology
Among 64 patients with ctDNA drawn before primary retroperitoneal lymph node dissection, an ASCO GU 2026 analysis reported sensitivity of 88% and specificity of 85% for germ cell tumor in the non-seminoma subgroup of 37 patients; seminoma specificity could not be estimated because every seminoma specimen contained tumor.
Journal of Clinical Oncology
An ASCO GU 2026 retrospective series of patients with testicular cancer who had at least one tumor-informed ctDNA result reported that, in that chart review, ctDNA was more sensitive and specific than serum tumor markers and imaging for residual disease and recurrence.
Journal of Clinical Oncology
In a biomarker analysis of the phase 2 COMRADE trial presented at ASCO GU 2026, undetectable ctDNA at cycle 2 day 1 was associated with longer radiographic progression-free survival than detectable ctDNA (median 9.9 versus 2.7 months; HR 0.47) among 94 analyzed patients with bone-dominant metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.
UroToday
In 110 patients with advanced urothelial carcinoma treated with enfortumab vedotin with or without pembrolizumab, an ASCO 2026 analysis of serial Signatera testing associated ctDNA positivity after 12 weeks with worse progression-free survival (HR 36.8) and overall survival (HR 17.7).
Journal of Clinical Oncology
An ASCO 2026 retrospective cohort of 72 patients with high-grade epithelial ovarian cancer, 69 of whom were in clinical remission, found ctDNA positivity in 30 and second-look laparoscopy positivity in 33; on multivariable analysis ctDNA positivity predicted shorter progression-free survival (HR 4.35; 95% CI 2.17 to 8.72).
Journal of Clinical Oncology
A preliminary ASCO GU 2026 report from MONSTAR-SCREEN-3, with results available for 16 of 30 enrolled patients with resectable renal cell carcinoma, found baseline ctDNA in 16 of 16 evaluable patients using a tumor-informed whole-genome assay, including 9 of 16 below 100 parts per million.
Journal of Clinical Oncology
An ASCO 2025 interim analysis of 112 patients with resected stage I to III pancreatic adenocarcinoma reported that landmark postoperative ctDNA positivity predicted recurrence (HR 2.39; 95% CI 1.14 to 5.01), and longitudinal positivity was associated with shorter disease-free survival (HR 3.13).
Journal of Clinical Oncology
In the NeoCircle analysis of 116 patients with stage I to III breast cancer presented at ASCO 2025, postoperative molecular residual disease detected with a tumor-informed structural-variant assay was associated with a shorter relapse-free interval (HR 45.5; 95% CI 13.0 to 159.8) and shorter overall survival (HR 15.3; 95% CI 4.5 to 52.9).
Journal of Clinical Oncology
An ASCO 2025 preliminary report from MONSTAR-SCREEN-3, with 114 patients across 15 cancer types as of December 2024, found baseline ctDNA in 41 of 41 tested patients and postoperative month-1 MRD positivity in 10 of 28, including colorectal, gastric, head and neck, renal cell, esophageal, and pancreatic cancers.
Journal of Clinical Oncology
The ASCO 2025 preliminary MONSTAR-SCREEN-3 report enrolled 22 patients with gastric cancer and 8 with esophageal cancer among 114 patients across 15 cancer types.
Journal of Clinical Oncology
In the final MRD analysis of the observational BESPOKE CRC study presented at ASCO GI 2025, ctDNA positivity in the postoperative window was associated with inferior disease-free survival in stage II disease (HR 10.4) and stage III disease (HR 10.1) among patients with a result in that window.
Journal of Clinical Oncology
In the observational alpha-CORRECT cohort of 124 patients with stage III colorectal cancer presented at ASCO GI 2025, a tumor-informed assay using up to 200 variants found that ctDNA positivity during surveillance was associated with recurrence (HR 49.6; 95% CI 16.6 to 148.3), with a median lead time of 10.4 months before a clinical diagnosis of recurrence.
Journal of Clinical Oncology
In the phase 3 ZEST trial, reported at SABCS 2024, enrollment stopped early after 1,901 patients had a tumor-informed ctDNA result and only 40 were randomized; of 147 patients with ctDNA detected, 72 (49%) already had radiographic recurrence on staging before randomization.
Clinical Cancer Research
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