The multi-year research program will use circulating-tumor DNA testing to guide treatment for breast, colorectal, ovarian, and prostate cancers.
City of Hope is implementing the Haystack minimal residual disease (MRD) test from Quest Diagnostics for clinical trial participants with solid tumor cancers. The research aims to guide disease management for patients with breast, colorectal, ovarian, and prostate cancer.
The multi-year program is expected to involve approximately 500 patients at 14 City of Hope sites across the US, including locations in Los Angeles, Orange County, Chicago, Phoenix, and Atlanta. Researchers will collect thousands of longitudinal measurements to evaluate the clinical utility of liquid biopsy in oncology care.
Evaluating Disease Management Settings
The clinical trials are investigating the circulating-tumor DNA (ctDNA) test across various patient management settings, including neoadjuvant, adjuvant, and post-treatment surveillance. The research is evaluating if the test can detect residual disease, monitor treatment response, and identify cancer recurrence earlier than standard imaging modalities.
“City of Hope brings together the scientific expertise, clinical infrastructure, and advanced technology needed to evaluate emerging approaches that can meaningfully improve cancer care and health outcomes for patients,” says Cristian Tomasetti, PhD, professor and director of the Center for Cancer Prevention, Early Detection and Monitoring at City of Hope, in a release. “We see liquid biopsy as an important frontier in oncology and aim to leverage the most accurate and effective commercially available ctDNA assays while also working to develop effective early detection platforms.”
Informing Clinical Decisions
According to the study leads, the technology may help determine if a surgery was able to fully remove the cancer, which could spare patients from unnecessary chemotherapy treatment, says Tomasetti, who also serves as a professor at the Translational Genomics Research Institute.
The collaboration aims to generate evidence supporting the role of ctDNA testing in proactive healthcare decisions for cancer survivors and their care teams.
“Haystack MRD is designed to help clinicians and their patients act earlier with greater confidence, based on the principle that cancer survivors and their care teams should be able to make proactive, not reactive, healthcare decisions,” says Dan Edelstein, vice president and general manager of Haystack Oncology, a Quest Diagnostics company, in a release. “We believe the research collaboration will generate important evidence supporting the role of Haystack MRD in informing patient management across multiple solid tumor settings.”
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