While oncologists increasingly use liquid biopsies for genomic testing, many still have concerns that a negative result from liquid biopsy may not be meaningful enough to direct clinical decision making. This concern can be mitigated by Foundation Medicine’s new circulating tumor DNA tumor fraction which improves confidence in the meaning of a negative result from liquid biopsies.
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Knowledge Center
A precision oncology resource featuring curated cancer genomic-focused educational content with medical professionals. Stay up-to-date on this ever-expanding field.
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Meet our Experts
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Hanna Tukachinsky, PhD
Hanna Tukachinsky is a Sr. Translational Scientist in Clinical Development and joined Foundation Medicine, Inc. in 2020. Dr. Tukachinsky is interested in molecular mechanisms that drive oncogenesis in different tissues and in emerging biomarkers for therapeutics. She received her BA from Columbia University and PhD from Harvard Medical School.
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Jerry Mitchell, MD, MBA
Jerry Mitchell joined Foundation Medicine, Inc. in 2021 as Director of Medical Oncology. Dr. Mitchell is ABIM Board Certified in Medical Oncology, Hematology and Hospice and Palliative Care. He brings with him 18+ years of direct patient care experience in a leading MidWest community practice. Dr. Mitchell has an MD from University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and an MBA from Indiana University.
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Jessica Lee, MS
Jessica Lee joined Foundation Medicine, Inc. in 2018 and is currently a Data Scientist in the Clinical Development Department. She earned a BS in Computational Neuroscience and an MS in Biomedical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.
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Lincoln Pasquina, PhD
Lincoln Pasquina is Director of Clinical Development at Foundation Medicine, Inc. Dr. Pasquina oversees evidence generation, planning, and execution for comprehensive genomic profiling assays with a focus on tissue-agnostic monitoring. He earned his BS from MIT and PhD from Harvard Medical School.
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ctDNA Tumor Fraction
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Decoded – Episode 1: ctDNA Tumor Fraction Matters When Interpreting Liquid Biopsy Test Results
Lincoln Pasquina, PhD, Director of Clinical Development at Foundation Medicine, explains how physicians can leverage Foundation Medicine’s ctDNA tumor fraction to improve clinical care. ctDNA tumor fraction is a measure of how much ctDNA is measured in an individual liquid biopsy.
Fusion Detection
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Genomic Testing to Identify Targetable Fusions in Liquid Biopsies
FoundationOne®Liquid CDx analyzes multiple classes of genomic alterations in DNA to identify genetic drivers of cancer, including point mutations, short insertions and deletions, rearrangements, gene deletions and amplifications. The real advantage of DNA as an analyte is that DNA is highly stable and can survive in tissue even if the tissue is archival and has been biopsied many years previously. Likewise, DNA does not degrade quickly in the blood. While RNA analysis can certainly add value to tissue biopsies, robust DNA sequencing still dominates in both tissue and liquid biopsies.
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Decoded – Episode 2: Genomic Testing to Identify Targetable Fusions in Liquid Biopsies
Hanna Tukachinsky, PhD, and Jessica Lee, MS, are co-authors on a recently published paper titled “Circulating Tumor DNA Enables Sensitive Detection of Actionable Gene Fusions and Rearrangements Across Cancer Types.” Listen to their latest research on fusion detection and what their findings mean for clinicians.
FoundationOne® Tracker
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Using FoundationOne Tracker to Bring Clarity to Treatment Response
FoundationOne Tracker is a test designed to detect very small amounts of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA). It helps clinicians to determine whether their patients on therapy are responding to treatment. As such, it can provide objective insights into treatment response for patients with advanced cancer across all solid tumors.
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Decoded – Episode 3: Using FoundationOne Tracker to Bring Clarity to Treatment Response
Jerry Mitchell, MD, MBA, talks about FoundationOne Tracker, a personalized tissue-informed ctDNA monitoring test that provides objective insights to help understand response to treatment for patients with advanced cancer across all solid tumors.
Additional Notes
The content in the Knowledge Center is education provided by our commercial team and is not medical education or advice.
FoundationOne®CDx and FoundationOne®Liquid CDx are qualitative next-generation sequencing based in vitro diagnostic tests for advanced cancer patients with solid tumors and are for prescription use only. FoundationOne CDx utilizes FFPE tissue and analyzes 324 genes as well as genomic signatures. FoundationOne Liquid CDx analyzes 324 genes utilizing circulating cell-free DNA and is FDA-approved to report short variants in 311 genes. The tests are companion diagnostics to identify patients who may benefit from treatment with specific therapies in accordance with the therapeutic product labeling. Additional genomic findings may be reported and are not prescriptive or conclusive for labeled use of any specific therapeutic product. Use of the tests does not guarantee a patient will be matched to a treatment. A negative result does not rule out the presence of an alteration. Some patients may require a biopsy for testing with FoundationOne CDx when archival tissue is not available which may pose a risk. Patients being considered for eligibility for therapy based on detection of NTRK1/2/3 and ROS1 fusions should only be tested if tissue is unavailable. Patients who are tested with FoundationOne Liquid CDx and are negative for other companion diagnostic mutations should be reflexed to tumor tissue testing and mutation status confirmed using an FDA-approved tumor tissue test, if feasible. For the complete label, including companion diagnostic indications and important risk information, please visit www.F1CDxLabel.com and www.F1LCDxLabel.com.
FoundationOne®Tracker is a clinical test performed exclusively as a laboratory service. This test has not been cleared or approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). FoundationOne Tracker is a personalized assay for oncology that is based on patient-specific somatic variants (substitutions and short insertions/deletions) identified from baseline tumor tissue testing and used to detect and longitudinally measure plasma circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) abundance as a biomarker for tumor burden. Treatment decisions are the responsibility of the treating physician. ctDNA detection sensitivity may be limited if blood collection occurs within two weeks of surgery or while a patient is on therapy. A negative test result does not definitively indicate the absence of cancer. This test is not designed to detect or report germline variation, nor does it infer hereditary cancer risk for a patient. This test is designed to detect ctDNA from the assayed tumor only; new primary tumors will not be detected. This test is expected to have limited sensitivity in some cancer types due to limited ctDNA shed.