ArticleCancers2021
The PATHFINDER Study: Assessment of the Implementation of an Investigational Multi-Cancer Early Detection Test into Clinical Practice.
Article in Cancers, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04241796 (The PATHFINDER Study), which is not on this map. Cited by 63 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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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.
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.
The PATHFINDER Study: Assessment of the Implementation of an Investigational Multi-Cancer Early Detection Test Into Clinical Practice
Who cites it
63 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 99 citations in OpenAlex.
- Multi-cancer early detection tests for general population screening: a systematic literature review.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2025Pooled it
- Non-invasive screening in hereditary cancer: a randomized controlled trial to test cell-free DNA-based early detection in the CHARM consortium.European journal of human genetics : EJHG · 2026Trial
- Monitoring treatment response using an ultra-sensitive ctDNA assay in advanced esophagogastric cancer patients.Scientific reports · 2026Trial
- Benchmarking reliability and calibration of LLMs for multi-cancer early detection test communication.JAMIA open · 2026Article
- Establishment and Performance Evaluation of a Multiplexed TET2-APOBEC-Mediated cfDNA Methylation Detection Workflow Using qPCR and dPCR Readouts.Journal of personalized medicine · 2026Article
- A Socio-ecological Analysis of Factors Influencing the Perceived Value of Multicancer Early Detection Testing in the United States.Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology · 2026Article
- The National Health Service-Galleri multicancer screening trial: explanation and justification of unique and important design issues.Journal of the National Cancer Institute · 2026Article
- Liquid Biopsy in Early Screening of Cancers: Emerging Technologies and New Prospects.Biomedicines · 2026Review
- Assessment of Circulating Tumor DNA for Early Detection of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Alpha-Fetoprotein-Negative Patients With Cirrhotic Nodules.JGH open : an open access journal of gastroenterology and hepatology · 2026Article
- Gastrointestinal cancer: molecular pathogenesis and targeted therapy.Molecular biomedicine · 2025Review
- Advances in Epigenomic Sequencing and Their Applications in Cancer Diagnostics.Precision chemistry · 2025Review
- Challenges of early detection of pancreatic cancer.The Journal of clinical investigation · 2025Review
- Development of a serum protein biomarker panel for the diagnosis of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma using a machine learning approach.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Development and validation of an integrative 54 biomarker-based risk identification model for multi-cancer in 42,666 individuals: a population-based prospective study to guide advanced screening strategies.Biomarker research · 2025Article
- Clinical Evaluation of Cancer Signal Origin Prediction and Diagnostic Resolution following Multicancer Early Detection Testing in the PATHFINDER Study.Cancer prevention research (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2025Article
- Validation of an AI-enabled exome/transcriptome liquid biopsy platform for early detection, MRD, disease monitoring, and therapy selection for solid tumors.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Updates on lung cancer screening for early detection.The Korean journal of internal medicine · 2025Review
- Ethical Considerations and Implications of Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening: Reliability, Access and Cost to Test and Treat.Cambridge quarterly of healthcare ethics : CQ : the international journal of healthcare ethics committees · 2025Article
- Innovative Approaches to Early Detection of Cancer-Transforming Screening for Breast, Lung, and Hard-to-Screen Cancers.Cancers · 2025Review
- Impact of clinical factors on accuracy of ovarian cancer detection via platelet RNA profiling.Blood advances · 2025Article
3 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
16 authors at 8 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
To examine the extent of the evaluation required to achieve diagnostic resolution and the test performance characteristics of a targeted methylation cell-free DNA (cfDNA)-based multi-cancer early detection (MCED) test, ~6200 participants ≥50 years with (cohort A) or without (cohort B) ≥1 of 3 additional specific cancer risk factors will be enrolled in PATHFINDER (NCT04241796), a prospective, longitudinal, interventional, multi-center study. Plasma cfDNA from blood samples will be analyzed to detect abnormally methylated DNA associated with cancer (i.e., cancer "signal") and a cancer signal origin (i.e., tissue of origin). Participants with a "signal detected" will undergo further diagnostic evaluation per guiding physician discretion; those with a "signal not detected" will be advised to continue guideline-recommended screening. The primary objective will be to assess the number and types of subsequent diagnostic tests needed for diagnostic resolution. Based on microsimulations (using estimates of cancer incidence and dwell times) of the typical risk profiles of anticipated participants, the median (95% CI) number of participants with a "signal detected" result is expected to be 106 (87-128). Subsequent diagnostic evaluation is expected to detect 52 (39-67) cancers. The positive predictive value of the MCED test is expected to be 49% (39-58%). PATHFINDER will evaluate the integration of a cfDNA-based MCED test into existing clinical cancer diagnostic pathways. The study design of PATHFINDER is described here.
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Registered trials
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.