Serum Detect Presents Data on Novel T-Cell Analysis Approach for Cancer Early Detection at AACR

A new study demonstrates the potential of Serum Detect's T-cell receptor (TCR) repertoire liquid biopsy to complement circulating tumor DNA approaches.   

NEWTON, Mass., April 8, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Serum Detect, Inc., a cancer diagnostics company advancing new technologies for early detection of cancer, today announced the presentation of new data at the 2024 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting in San Diego, CA. The new data suggests that, when combined with circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) and cancer-related protein biomarkers, Serum Detect's TCR-based approach may significantly improve sensitivity for the detection of early-stage cancer.

Poster Highlights:  

• Presented a novel approach for discovery of lung cancer-associated circulating TCR repertoire functional units (RFUs), which are computationally derived sets of TCRs with similar sequences that may recognize shared tumor antigens.
• A machine learning model for lung cancer status prediction using TCR RFUs detected nearly 50% of stage I lung cancers at a specificity of 80%.
• The TCR RFU model score could distinguish lung cancer from non-cancerous lung conditions such as benign nodules and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
• The TCR RFU model achieved a substantial gain in sensitivity for stage I cancer when the scores were added to plasma ctDNA mutation and lung cancer-related protein biomarker analysis, with an approximately 20%-point increase seen at the ~90% target specificity commonly used for cancer screening tests.

"The primary way to achieve cancer cures is through early detection," said Roman Yelensky, PhD, Serum Detect's founder and CEO. "While liquid biopsy is promising, it is still failing to detect many early-stage cancers and pre-cancerous growths. Our first data on immune-based cancer early detection point to a potentially exciting complementary approach. We are grateful for the opportunity to share these findings with the research community and look forward to discussing our results with attendees at AACR and collaborating to develop this technology into clinically impactful liquid biopsy tests."

The findings are based on a large circulating TCR repertoire dataset of 922 lung cancer cases and control subjects in total. This proprietary TCR dataset was generated using a custom NGS assay on genomic DNA extracted from blood buffy coats, which is a specimen often collected but not typically used for early detection biomarker discovery. 197 lung cancer associated circulating TCR repertoire functional units were identified at a false discovery rate (FDR) ≤10%. These include 110 RFUs that were enriched in cancer patients and 87 RFUs that were enriched in non-cancer controls. Individual RFU statistical effect sizes were relatively small, highlighting the importance of signal aggregation across multiple TCRs and TCR repertoire functional units with Serum's novel approach.

Poster presentation details: 

   Poster Title:  Circulating T cell receptor repertoire analysis improves cancer early detection  

   Presentation Number:                     2295  

   Presenters:                                       Yilong Li, PhD; Michelle Nahas, PhD; Roman Yelensky, PhD  

   Session Title:                                    Liquid Biopsy and Precision Oncology  

   Session Date and Time:                   Monday, Apr 8, 2024, 9:00am - 12:30pm PT

   Location:                                         Poster Section 36; Poster Board Number 6  

Visit the poster session and follow Serum Detect on LinkedIn for more updates from #AACR24. 

About Serum Detect    

Serum Detect is a cancer diagnostics company focused on advancing new technologies for the early detection of cancer to improve outcomes for patients. The company is pioneering new analysis techniques to detect subtle signals of immune response to early cancer, using standard liquid biopsy samples. For more information about Serum Detect and its technology, or to engage with the team, please visit www.serumdetect.com and follow the company on LinkedIn.   

SOURCE Serum Detect Inc.