New Delhi: A recent study published in The Lancet Oncology has found that monitoring DNA fragments released by dying tumor cells into the bloodstream could be a powerful tool for predicting cancer recurrence, particularly in patients with stage III melanoma — one of the most aggressive forms of skin cancer.
The international study, led by researchers at New York University (NYU) Langone Health, analyzed nearly 600 patients from Europe, North America, and Australia. It focused on circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA), fragments of mutated DNA shed by tumor cells into the bloodstream as they break down.
The findings revealed that nearly 80% of melanoma patients with detectable ctDNA in their blood before starting treatment experienced disease recurrence. Moreover, these patients saw cancer return over four times faster than those without detectable ctDNA. Notably, higher ctDNA levels were associated with faster recurrence rates.
“Our findings suggest that circulating tumour DNA tests could help oncologists identify which melanoma patients are most likely to respond well to therapy,” said Mahrukh Syeda, the study’s lead author and a research scientist at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. She added that such blood-based tests may one day become a standard tool in clinical oncology to help tailor treatment strategies.
The researchers also tracked ctDNA levels at three-month intervals after treatment began. They found that patients who developed detectable ctDNA at three, six, nine, or twelve months into therapy were highly likely to experience cancer recurrence. This suggests that the reappearance of ctDNA during or after treatment may signal disease progression.
Syeda explained that the test identifies the most common mutations found in melanoma cells. Since these mutated genes spill into the bloodstream when tumor cells die, their presence can serve as an early warning sign for disease resurgence.
The study also compared ctDNA monitoring with other experimental diagnostic approaches, such as immune profiling of tumors, and concluded that ctDNA was equally or more effective in predicting recurrence. This positions ctDNA analysis as a promising, minimally invasive method to track and manage melanoma.
