{
  "id": 10663616,
  "title": "A blood-based approach could enable personalized immunotherapy without the need for a tumor biopsy",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/29/a-blood-based-approach-could-enable-personalized-immunotherapy",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-09-29T10:00:05.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Medical Xpress",
    "slug": "medical-xpress",
    "url": "https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-blood-based-approach-enable-personalized.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Researchers at the Vall d Hebron Institute of Oncology in Spain have developed a blood-based method to identify cancer neoantigens and neoantigen-specific T cells, potentially enabling personalized immunotherapy without the need for a tumor biopsy. The study, published in Cancer Discovery, analyzed circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) and immune cells from patient blood samples. Senior author Alena Gros explained that neoantigens, proteins produced by cancer cells, make tumors recognizable to the immune system and can be targeted for immunotherapy. By analyzing ctDNA, the researchers identified 63.25% to 97.4% of the neoantigens found in standard tumor tissue analysis across six patients with various cancers. The approach also detected neoantigens not identified through traditional tumor tissue analysis, suggesting that blood-based analysis may provide a more comprehensive view of the cancer. The researchers further evaluated the method in a larger cohort of 69 patients with metastatic solid tumors, finding that ctDNA was detectable in 32 (46.4%). Among 17 colorectal cancer patients, ctDNA was detected in 14 (82.4%), including those with mismatch repair-deficient tumors that often express more neoantigens and are treated with immunotherapies targeting neoantigens. The study concludes that blood-based neoantigen identification could replace or complement the traditional tissue-based approach in many patients and cancer types, making treatment more accessible to patients with inaccessible tumors or who cannot undergo a biopsy.",
  "summary": "In a study published in Cancer Discovery, cancer neoantigens and neoantigen-specific T cells were identified from patient blood samples by analyzing circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) and immune cells.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}