Dr. Papadimitrakopoulou on Distinguishing Features of the Guardant360 Assay in Lung Cancer

Vassiliki A. Papadimitrakopoulou, MD, professor of medicine, Department of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses distinguishing features of the Guardant360 assay in non—small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Guardant360 is the most widely used assay on the market, says Papadimitrakopoulou. In the Noninvasive versus Invasive Lung Evaluation trial, investigators demonstrated the noninferiority of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) analysis compared with the use of tissue genotyping in patients with metastatic NSCLC. Specifically, the use of Guardant360, a 73-gene next-generation sequencing panel, increased the rate of biomarker detection by 48%. By cultivating the assay’s bioinformatics, the company has been able to increase the sensitivity of the assay relative to other methods of biopsy detection, says Papadimitrakopoulou. This is especially true when it comes to detecting genomic events such as gene fusions and copy number alterations, she adds.

However, the assay has not been evaluated head-to-head with other assays on the market. Therefore, it is hard to make a direct comparison between Guardant360 and all of the available assays out there.