New research demonstrates that blood-based profiling of the tumor microenvironment can forecast patient outcomes and treatment efficacy.
LiquidCell Dx announced the publication of research in Nature detailing the development of LiquidTME, a blood-based assay designed for tumor microenvironment (TME) profiling. The study shows that features of the TME, which modulates cancer therapy response, can be measured noninvasively from a standard blood draw.
The research identified nine recurring multicellular ecosystems, termed spatial ecotypes, within and around solid tumors. Using artificial intelligence, researchers detected these ecotypes from plasma cell-free DNA. The study integrated more than 10 million single-cell and spot-level spatial transcriptomes from 132 tumor specimens across 10 different malignancies to identify these ecosystems.
In a group of nearly 100 melanoma patients, levels of spatial ecotypes derived from plasma prior to treatment initiation showed associations with survival and response to immunotherapy. The authors noted that these ecotypes are distinguishable through DNA methylation profiling, which may eliminate the need for a traditional tumor biopsy.
Clinical Validation and Biomarker Comparison
At the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2026, the company and its collaborators presented a blinded clinical validation of the assay in patients with metastatic melanoma. In a Washington University cohort of 34 patients treated with combination immune checkpoint inhibitors, the assay identified durable responders from pretreatment plasma.
The assay maintained performance in patients with available tumor mutational burden (TMB) data, a measurement currently used in clinical decision-making. In contrast, TMB measurements failed to significantly stratify response or progression-free survival in the same group, according to the company.
“Cancer treatment is still too often shaped by partial information,” says Mirna Jarosz, PhD, CEO of LiquidCell Dx, in a release. “We can read the tumor itself with far greater precision than a decade ago, yet that still does not tell us enough about the biology around it that often determines whether a treatment will work. This research creates the scientific foundation for bringing that missing layer of biology into view from a standard blood draw.”
Broader Applications in Oncology
The study also evaluated established biomarkers directly. In a multivariable analysis of patients with various solid tumors, liquid spatial ecotype signals were more significantly associated with overall survival than either TMB or PD-L1.
“Cancer is not just a collection of malignant cells,” says Vincent A. Miller, MD, senior strategic advisor to LiquidCell Dx, in a release. “It is also the complex ecosystem around those cells, and that ecosystem can often explain the difference between responses in tumors with otherwise similar genomic features. Making that biology measurable from blood expands what oncologists can know before treatment begins and may inform treatment choice and ultimately patient outcomes.”
LiquidCell Dx is initially focusing on solid tumors and predicting responses across various treatment modalities, including immunotherapies, engineered cell therapies, bispecific antibodies, and antibody-drug conjugates. The Nature paper demonstrated the generalizability of the platform across 17 cancer types, including carcinomas and melanoma. Researchers noted that the ability to measure these ecosystems from a blood draw enables the measurement of spatial biology at a new scale for clinical discovery and personalized medicine.
ID 418012784 | Lab © Alena Butusava | Dreamstime.com
