Overview

• In a Journal of the National Cancer Institute study, Mass General Brigham scientists report a liquid biopsy called HPV-DeepSeek detected HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancers years before diagnosis.
• In a retrospective biobank set of 56 plasma samples, the assay found circulating tumor HPV DNA in 22 of 28 future cancer cases, while all 28 matched controls tested negative.
• A machine-learning model increased case identification to 27 of 28 and included positives up to a decade prediagnosis, with the earliest non-ML positive at 7.8 years before diagnosis.
• Earlier work by the same team showed about 99% sensitivity and 99% specificity for diagnosing these cancers at first clinical presentation.
• NIH- and NCI-supported blinded validation using hundreds of PLCO trial samples is underway, and investigators note it remains uncertain whether early positives reflect existing cancer or a precancerous state.