🧬 Liquid biopsy is helping catch HPV-driven cancers earlier to improve patient care.

One of the most exciting developments to me in cancer diagnostics is the rise of liquid biopsy, a simple blood draw that can detect circulating tumor DNA found in the bloodstream (!). A new study funded by the V Foundation from Dr. Evgeny Izumchenko and lab The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, just validated a cutting-edge test called HPV-SEQ, and it could be a game-changer for how we detect and monitor cancers driven by human papillomavirus (HPV).

📌 Why it matters The incidence of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC), a throat cancer often caused by HPV, has more than doubled over the past 20 years. It’s now the most common HPV-related cancer in the U.S., even surpassing cervical cancer:

• HPV16 and HPV18 account for over 90% of HPV-positive OPSCC cases,

• These cancers often affect younger, otherwise healthy adults,

• Our current standard for monitoring HPV status (16, 18 or otherwise), is a biopsy; which is invasive, painful, and can’t (reasonably) be done repeatedly to track disease.

• Most available blood-based tests struggle to detect low levels of virus. Some miss up to 10 - 15% of HPV-positive cases at diagnosis. Not great.

• And, in one clinical trial, a standard test failed to detect recurrent disease until after symptoms appeared. Even worse.

That’s where a tool HPV-SEQ would come in SUPER HANDY. It is a high-performance, ultra-sensitive test that would allow clinicians to:

• Catch recurrence months (!) earlier than imaging,

• Track treatment responses in real-time,

• Tailor therapies based on viral load,

• And potentially avoid over treating patients who are responding well.

🔬 What’s new in this study: Dr. Izumchenko and team validated HPV-SEQ, as a next-generation sequencing (NGS) assay capable of detecting and quantifying HPV16 and HPV18 DNA in blood plasma. A key observation is that unlike older methods, HPV-SEQ remained reliable even when viral load is very low, making it ideal for early detection and monitoring. 

🧪 Why this could transform care: HPV-SEQ is being used in clinical trials to identify minimal residual disease and to guide treatment de-escalation. It has the ability to detect recurrence up to 25 months before standard imaging (!!!).

As costs associated with sequencing decrease, tests like this should increasingly become part of routine care. With more sensitive monitoring tools, we can personalize care, reduce unnecessary treatment, and improve outcomes for patients living with HPV-driven cancers.

💡 Why I’m sharing this the V Foundation, we fund bold, high-impact science, like this. Tools like HPV-SEQ bring us closer to a future where cancer is not just treated, but tracked and intercepted in real time. That’s the power of innovation in action. 

Find the Izumchenko lab at | Biological Sciences Division | The University of Chicago and read this very cool paper at Analytical and clinical performance validation of HPV-SEQ, a novel NGS-based liquid biopsy platform for detection and quantification of human papilloma virus circulating tumor DNA - ScienceDirect.