After patients with cancer undergo surgery to remove a tumor and sometimes additional chemotherapy, tools are used to identify patients at highest risk of recurrence. Non-invasive tools to detect microscopic disease are of especially high value. In a new study published in Clinical Cancer Research, a team led by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) has evaluated the first “tumor-uninformed” test that detects cancer DNA circulating in the blood of patients following treatment. The test, called Guardant Reveal, developed by precision oncology company Guardant Health, is “tumor-uninformed” because, unlike previous tests for circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in the blood, this test does not require knowing the particular mutations that were present in the patient’s tumor.
