Circulating DNA pioneer wins early detection Impact Award

Professor Allen Chan, a pioneer in circulating DNA research, has been honored with an Impact Award at the Early Detection of Cancer Conference in Edinburgh. Chan emphasizes that the award is a recognition of his team's dedication, as they embarked on a screening study involving over 20,000 people to determine if plasma DNA could detect cancer before symptoms and improve outcomes.

Over three years, they recruited participants and rescreened the cohort around four years later, even during the COVID-19 pandemic. The award highlights the importance of their non-invasive prenatal testing work, which demonstrated that clinically useful information could be extracted from small amounts of cell-free DNA. In 2009, Chan's team used digital PCR to detect EGFR mutations in the plasma of lung cancer patients.

They also conducted screening studies, such as one that showed plasma Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) DNA screening could find nasopharyngeal cancer predominantly at an early stage in over 20,000 asymptomatic men. Chan stresses the need for better understanding of the biology of early cancer detection, including the mechanisms governing the release, persistence, and clearance of circulating DNA.

He also highlights the challenges of regulatory approval, which requires rigorous analytical validation, large clinical studies, and evidence that benefits justify the harms of false positives. Chan advises researchers to build multidisciplinary partnerships to increase the chances of taking a test into routine care.