Ahmet Dirican, Professor of Medical Oncology at Medicana International İzmir Hospital, shared on X:
“One Blood Test. More Than 50 Cancers. Are We Entering a New Era of Cancer Screening?
GRAIL’s Galleri® multi-cancer early detection (MCED) test uses cfDNA methylation patterns and machine learning to look for cancer signals from more than 50 cancer types with a single blood draw.
The NHS – Galleri randomized trial (~142,000 participants) provides a fascinating signal:
- Stage I–II cancers: ↑ 16%
- Stage III–IV cancers: no significant reduction
- Stage IV cancers: ↓ 14% signal
This raises perhaps the most interesting question:
If we are detecting more cancers at Stage I–II, why haven’t we yet seen a clear reduction in Stage III–IV disease?
Is it follow-up time? Tumor biology? Differences in ctDNA shedding? Or are we detecting a group of early cancers that would not necessarily have progressed rapidly?
The technology is impressive – but the real endpoint is not simply detecting cancer earlier. It is preventing advanced cancer and ultimately reducing cancer mortality.
That is the question the next generation of MCED studies will need to answer.”
Other articles about Cancer Screening on OncoDaily.
