By Ron Shinkman, Editor, Laboratory Industry Report
San Diego-based genomic laboratory Trovagene is developing an unconventional approach to liquid biopsies for lung cancer patients, relying on specimens of urine rather than blood.
According to Trovagene’s research, it is able to track the DNA of circulating tumors through urine samples in patients with lung cancer. The findings are being presented at the ongoing World Conference on Lung Cancer in Denver.
The test is a departure from most liquid biopsy modeling for cancer patients, which is usually based on blood samples. Some urine tests are available for disease detection, but the use of such samples for charting therapeutic measures on the molecular level is extremely rare.
"We have been able to model some of the early effects of chemotherapeutic agents on patients,” said Hatim Husain, M.D., of the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, in a statement. "In this expanded data set, we were able to closely monitor the dynamic changes in urinary EGFR mutation load at initial therapy, recurrence, and in retreatment scenarios." The urine specimens allow Trovagene to track mutations in EGFR Exon19 Deletion, L858R, and T790M, and track the response to radiation therapy over a six-week course of treatment.
Trovagene has not indicated if it is developing a commercial test that would be brought to market in the near future.