Liquid biopsy and cancer detection

The concept of liquid biopsy is based on the knowledge that blood or secretions from the body contain tumor cells, nucleic acids, cellular components, and tumor metabolites (1).

An innovative test, named TriOx, analyses multiple features of DNA in the peripheral blood across six types of cancer (colorectal, oesophageal, pancreatic, renal, ovarian, and breast) and can distinguish between individuals with and without cancer (1):

• with respect to colon cancer - evidence suggests that a survival benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy may be obtained in a well-defined subgroup of patients with stage II colon cancer — namely, those with detectable ctDNA after surgery (2)
  • treating only the patients who had detectable ctDNA reduced the percentage of patients who received adjuvant therapy as compared with standard management and did not compromise recurrence-free survival

A statement from NIHR describes this intervention:

"..researchers combined a cutting-edge DNA analysis technique, called TAPS, with machine learning, to analyse multiple key features from the DNA circulating in the blood.

The TriOx test was evaluated on blood samples from patients with and without cancer. It demonstrated the ability to detect cancers (including early-stage cancers) and distinguish between people who had cancer and those that did not with 94.9% sensitivity and 88.8% specificity. For any cancer test, it's important to minimise the number of people without cancer who are subjected to unnecessary procedures, while helping those with cancer to receive treatment sooner.

The cancer types evaluated in this study were:

• colorectal
• oesophageal
• pancreatic
• renal
• ovarian
• breast.."

Reference:

1. Parums DV. A Review of Circulating Tumor DNA (ctDNA) and the Liquid Biopsy in Cancer Diagnosis, Screening, and Monitoring Treatment Response. Med Sci Monit. 2025 Apr 22;31:e949300
2. Tie J et al. DYNAMIC Investigators. Circulating Tumor DNA Analysis Guiding Adjuvant Therapy in Stage II Colon Cancer. N Engl J Med. 2022 Jun 16;386(24):2261-2272.
3. National Institute for Health and CareResearch (NIHR). https://www.nihr.ac.uk/news/new-blood-test-shows-promising-potential-early-cancer-detection