London, United Kingdom (Enmaeya News) — British biotech company ANGLE plc, in partnership with U.S.-based genomics firm Illumina, has unveiled a new method that could improve how doctors detect and treat lung cancer — using just a single blood sample.
The technique combines two forms of cancer DNA analysis, looking at both circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) — tiny fragments of tumor DNA found in the bloodstream — and DNA from circulating tumor cells (CTC-DNA), which are whole cancer cells that break away from tumors and travel through the blood.
Typically, only ctDNA is tested in blood-based cancer diagnostics. But this new “dual-DNA” approach captures a wider range of mutations — changes in the genetic code that can help doctors understand the type and behavior of cancer a patient has.
In a study involving 27 people with lung cancer, the new method detected twice as many genetic mutations as standard ctDNA analysis alone. In patients who had not yet begun treatment, all the mutations found were detected only in the tumor cell DNA (CTC-DNA). Among patients already undergoing treatment, 90% of mutations also showed up only in CTC-DNA.
“This is a game-changer for personalized oncology,” said ANGLE CEO Andrew Newland. “By combining CTC and ctDNA analysis, clinicians can gain a more complete picture of tumor evolution and tailor therapies to individual patients more effectively.”
The technology works through ANGLE’s Parsortix system, which isolates cancer cells from a blood sample. Illumina’s NextSeq 2000 DNA sequencer is then used to read the genetic material, focusing on 79 key lung cancer-related genes.
According to Illumina, this approach could help doctors detect cancer mutations more accurately, choose better treatment options, and monitor how well a therapy is working. It may also help identify drug resistance earlier — when switching medications could still be effective.
“This dual approach allows for deeper genetic insights that could significantly impact how we diagnose and manage cancer,” Illumina said during the European Association for Cancer Research conference, where the results were presented.
Experts say this innovation could change the future of non-invasive cancer testing — offering patients a safer, faster, and more detailed diagnosis without the need for surgical biopsies.
