Science

Scott Kopetz: Hunting for the Very Rare Clonal Fusions for Clinical Benefit

Collage Photo of Nicholas Hornstein and Scott Kopetz

Aug 4, 2025, 20:39

Scott Kopetz: Hunting for the Very Rare Clonal Fusions for Clinical Benefit

Scott Kopetz, Associate Vice President for Translational Integration at MD Anderson Cancer Center, shared a post on X by Nicholas Hornstein, Assistant Professor at Northwell Health, adding:

“Important team finding: Fusions occur in 1.3% of mCRC with focused partner-agnostic ctDNA assay, but vast majority are subclonal after EGFRi and likely wouldn’t provide meaningful benefit if targeted.

Keep hunting for the very rare clonal fusions for clinical benefit!”

Quoting Nicholas Hornstein’s post about a paper he co-authored with colleagues published in BMC Cancer:

“New paper out!

We reanalyzed raw sequencing data from 18,558 standard-of-care Guardant360 ctDNA assays in advanced colorectal cancer using a partner-agnostic fusion caller.

Fusions in 1.3% of patients
93% were subclonal – enriched after EGFR therapy
Clonal fusions linked to MSI-H tumors
Subclonal fusions may signal impending acquired resistance to targeted therapies like EGFR inhibitors – offering a window for earlier intervention.

Thanks to Andrew Pellatt for being a great co-fellow and letting me participate in this work along some of the defining leaders in CRC like Van Morris, Scott Kopetz and Ryan Huey!”

Title: Detection of oncogenic fusions in colorectal cancer using a partner-agnostic next-generation sequencing approach

Authors: Andrew J. Pellatt, Reagan M. Barnett, Sante Gnerre, Kristin Edwards, Jason A. Willis, Michael J. Overmann, Kanwal Raghav, Christine M. Parseghian, Arvind Dasari, M. Pia Morelli, Alisha Bent, Madhulika Eluri, Nicholas Hornstein, Leylah M. Drusbosky, Scott Kopetz, Van K. Morris

You can read the Full Article in BMC Cancer.

Detection of oncogenic fusions in colorectal cancer

More posts featuring Nicholas Hornstein and Scott Kopetz on OncoDaily.

Alisha Bent Andrew J. Pellatt Arvind Dasari cancer Christine M. Parseghian colorectal cancer EGFR inhibitors EGFR therapy Guardant360 Jason A. Willis Kanwal Raghav Kristin Edwards Leylah M. Drusbosky M. Pia Morelli Madhulika Eluri Michael J. Overmann MSI-H Tumors Nicholas Hornstein OncoDaily oncogenic fusions Oncology partner-agnostic next-generation sequencing approach Reagan M. Barnett Ryan Huey Sante Gnerre Scott Kopetz Van K. Morris

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