HAS MY CANCER BEEN COMPLETELY TREATED?

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Residual Disease

When cancer treatment is stopped, the cancer may or may not be completely removed. For example, did surgery completely eliminate the cancer? Presence of CAMLs indicates cancer.

Early Recurrence Detection

In the US, there are an estimated 20 million cancer survivors. To determine if cancer is returning, patients are recommended to undergo CT imaging 2 – 3 times per year. CT scans expose the patients to damaging radiation and requires the tumor to grow to be detected. Blood test for CAML can detect cancer recurrence earlier than imaging, allowing a faster start of treatment if the cancer has returned.

Sequential Monitoring of Therapy

Sequential monitoring of therapy is recommended, because tumors change. This is especially important when the drug is targeting a specific marker.

Case Study:

  • Patient was initially on Pazopanib, which targets pan-VEGFR. Initially, the expression of pan-VEGFR was high, but it decreased over time. Patient’s cancer progressed as indicated by an increase in CAML size.

  • At the same time, the expression of PD-L1 became high.  The therapy was switched to Atezolizumab, an immunotherapy drug.  The patient’s CAML size decreased following the therapy.

  • This patient sample was processed analyzing three companion diagnostic markers.