Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31011204›Full record

ArticleNature medicine2019

Utility of ctDNA to support patient selection for early phase clinical trials: the TARGET study.

Dominic G Rothwell, Mahmood Ayub, Natalie Cook, Fiona Thistlethwaite, Louise Carter, Emma Dean, Nigel Smith, Shaun Villa, Joanne Dransfield, Alexandra Clipson and 32 more

Abstract read
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Nature medicine, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 172 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
172citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

172 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Guideline
  2. Pooled it
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  12. Network-Integrated Platform for Clinical Trial Navigation from the New South Wales Early Phase Clinical Trials Alliance.Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research · 2026
    Article
  13. Review
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  19. Observational
  20. Review

112 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

42 authors.

Dominic G RothwellClinical Experimental Pharmacology Group, CRUK Manchester Institute, Manchester, UK.
Mahmood AyubClinical Experimental Pharmacology Group, CRUK Manchester Institute, Manchester, UK.
Natalie CookExperimental Cancer Medicine Team, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK.
Fiona ThistlethwaiteExperimental Cancer Medicine Team, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK.
Louise CarterExperimental Cancer Medicine Team, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK.
Emma DeanExperimental Cancer Medicine Team, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9956-257X
Nigel SmithClinical Experimental Pharmacology Group, CRUK Manchester Institute, Manchester, UK.
Shaun VillaExperimental Cancer Medicine Team, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK.
Joanne DransfieldExperimental Cancer Medicine Team, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK.
Alexandra ClipsonClinical Experimental Pharmacology Group, CRUK Manchester Institute, Manchester, UK.
Daniel WhiteClinical Experimental Pharmacology Group, CRUK Manchester Institute, Manchester, UK.
Kamrun NessaClinical Experimental Pharmacology Group, CRUK Manchester Institute, Manchester, UK.
Saba FerdousClinical Experimental Pharmacology Group, CRUK Manchester Institute, Manchester, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7714-6732
Matthew HowellClinical Experimental Pharmacology Group, CRUK Manchester Institute, Manchester, UK.
Avinash GuptaExperimental Cancer Medicine Team, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK.
Bedirhan KilerciClinical Experimental Pharmacology Group, CRUK Manchester Institute, Manchester, UK.
Sumitra MohanClinical Experimental Pharmacology Group, CRUK Manchester Institute, Manchester, UK.
Kris FreseClinical Experimental Pharmacology Group, CRUK Manchester Institute, Manchester, UK.
Sakshi GulatiClinical Experimental Pharmacology Group, CRUK Manchester Institute, Manchester, UK.
Crispin MillerClinical Experimental Pharmacology Group, CRUK Manchester Institute, Manchester, UK.
Allan JordanDrug Discovery Unit, CRUK Manchester Institute, Manchester, UK.
Helen EatonNorth West Centre for Genomic Medicine, Manchester, UK.
Nicholas HicksonNorth West Centre for Genomic Medicine, Manchester, UK.
Ciara O'BrienExperimental Cancer Medicine Team, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK.
Donna GrahamExperimental Cancer Medicine Team, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK.
Claire KellyExperimental Cancer Medicine Team, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK.
Sreeja ArukettyExperimental Cancer Medicine Team, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK.
Robert MetcalfExperimental Cancer Medicine Team, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK.
Jaseela ChiramelExperimental Cancer Medicine Team, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK.
Nadina TinsleyExperimental Cancer Medicine Team, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK.
Alexander J VickersExperimental Cancer Medicine Team, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK.
Roopa KurupExperimental Cancer Medicine Team, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK.
Hannah FrostExperimental Cancer Medicine Team, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK.
Julie StevensonClinical Experimental Pharmacology Group, CRUK Manchester Institute, Manchester, UK.
Siobhan SouthamClinical Experimental Pharmacology Group, CRUK Manchester Institute, Manchester, UK.
Dónal LandersClinical Experimental Pharmacology Group, CRUK Manchester Institute, Manchester, UK.
Andrew WallaceNorth West Centre for Genomic Medicine, Manchester, UK.
Richard MaraisMolecular Oncology Group, CRUK Manchester Institute, Manchester, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7484-4183
Andrew M HughesDivision of Cancer Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.
Ged BradyClinical Experimental Pharmacology Group, CRUK Manchester Institute, Manchester, UK.
Caroline DiveClinical Experimental Pharmacology Group, CRUK Manchester Institute, Manchester, UK. caroline.dive@manchester.ac.uk.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1726-8850
Matthew G KrebsExperimental Cancer Medicine Team, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK. matthew.krebs@manchester.ac.uk.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7540-3064

Funding

Cancer Research UK 15675Cancer Research UK 17098Cancer Research UK 19278Cancer Research UK 20465Cancer Research UK 22902Cancer Research UK 29420Cancer Research UK 29569
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) supports blood-based genomic profiling but is not yet routinely implemented in the setting of a phase I trials clinic. TARGET is a molecular profiling program with the primary aim to match patients with a broad range of advanced cancers to early phase clinical trials on the basis of analysis of both somatic mutations and copy number alterations (CNA) across a 641 cancer-associated-gene panel in a single ctDNA assay. For the first 100 TARGET patients, ctDNA data showed good concordance with matched tumor and results were turned round within a clinically acceptable timeframe for Molecular Tumor Board (MTB) review. When a 2.5% variant allele frequency (VAF) threshold was applied, actionable mutations were identified in 41 of 100 patients, and 11 of these patients received a matched therapy. These data support the application of ctDNA in this early phase trial setting where broad genomic profiling of contemporaneous tumor material enhances patient stratification to novel therapies and provides a practical template for bringing routinely applied blood-based analyses to the clinic.

Indexed as

Biomarkers, TumorCirculating Tumor DNAClinical Trials, Phase I as TopicDNA Copy Number VariationsHigh-Throughput Nucleotide SequencingHumansMutationNeoplasmsPatient SelectionSequence Analysis, DNABiomarkers, TumorCirculating Tumor DNA

Identifiers

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.