Purpose of the Onco-T Test

​

Let’s look at the three types of information returned by the OncoTrace test and their purpose in developing an individualized treatment plan for you.

​

CTC Count

The CTC count gives a reading of the presence of cancer cells in your bloodstream. If the number has gone up from its baseline after treatment, it means your treatment is not effective, and our lab may recommend changing the treatment course.

 

On the other hand, if the CTC count shows a decline, it can be inferred that the treatment is effective, and you will want to continue with your current treatment.

​

In some cases, though, the CTC count may show plateauing, which means that the treatment may be working to some extent. This may indicate that you may need to add another treatment method to your plan for better results. 

​

The CTC count helps your care practitioners assess the efficacy of the established treatment protocols. And you can see a direct correlation between the CTC count and the growth or decline in cancer cells in your body.

​

Phenotype Markers

The Onco-T test also provides information about phenotype markers for your cancer cells. These are tissue markers that identify the tissue where the tumor cells originate.

​

As the cancer cells leave the primary tumor, they move through the body in different stages of development. The general population of cancer cells is accompanied by other unique sub-populations of those cells, which may have slightly different characteristics. 

​

The uniqueness of the information provided by phenotype markers gives information about the cells’ tissue of origin. This means that if you have multiple primary cancer tumors in the body, this marker can throw light on that fact.

Phenotypic biomarkers are useful for:

• Screening - Identifying at-risk individuals

• Diagnosis - Confirming the presence of cancer

• Staging and prognosis - Risk stratifying and predicting disease outcome

• Companion diagnostics - Predicting the response to drugs

• Monitoring disease - Evaluating therapeutic response and recurrence

​

Stemness Markers

The third type of information recorded by the Onco-T test is data on the stem cell markers for your cancer, called the stemness markers. The stemness markers provide information on the behavior and activity level of cancer cells in the bloodstream. 

​

It is ideal to have these markers show up as inactive or turned “Off.” And when treatment is effective, you will see these markers change from positive to negative over time. Even when the CTC count is low, if these markers are positive, it means the cancer is still present in the body. In true remission, these markers are negative.

​

We use the status of the stemness markers to empower you and your care team with information that tells you about what is happening with your cancer at all times.