{"entity":{"id":"cthpv-dna","kind":"technology","name":"Circulating tumour HPV DNA (ctHPV-DNA)","aka":[],"tldr":"A blood test that detects fragments of the virus DNA shed by HPV-positive throat cancers, to confirm diagnosis, track response, and catch recurrence early.","summary":"Digital droplet PCR or NGS assays (NavDx, others) detect HPV16 DNA in plasma with high specificity; clearance during chemoradiation predicts cure and post-treatment surveillance detects recurrence months before imaging. Being used to select patients for response-adapted de-escalation after the failure of HPV-status-alone selection (NRG-HN005).","status":"established","asOf":"2026-09-07","links":[{"label":"Chera et al., Plasma circulating tumour HPV DNA for the surveillance of cancer recurrence in HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancer (Journal of Clinical Oncology 2020)","url":"https://doi.org/10.1200/JCO.19.02444"}],"tags":[],"related":[],"cancers":["head-and-neck","hpv-positive-oropharyngeal-cancer"],"sections":["diagnostics"],"technologies":["liquid-biopsy","mrd-testing"],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":["hpv-p16","ctdna"],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":["paper-chera-j-clin-oncol"],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"principle":"Tumour-tissue-modified viral DNA fragments quantified in cell-free plasma DNA.","strengths":["Highly specific to the tumour","Cheap, repeatable, earlier than imaging"],"limitations":["Only for HPV-driven disease","Interventional trials proving benefit of acting on it are ongoing"]},"route":"/technologies/cthpv-dna/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"anal","kind":"cancer","name":"Anal cancer (squamous cell carcinoma)","route":"/cancers/anal/"},{"id":"anal-hsil-precursor","kind":"cancer","name":"Anal high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (precursor)","route":"/cancers/anal-hsil-precursor/"},{"id":"head-and-neck","kind":"cancer","name":"Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma","route":"/cancers/head-and-neck/"},{"id":"hpv-positive-oropharyngeal-cancer","kind":"cancer","name":"HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer","route":"/cancers/hpv-positive-oropharyngeal-cancer/"},{"id":"localised-anal-cancer","kind":"cancer","name":"Localised anal squamous cell carcinoma (stage I to III)","route":"/cancers/localised-anal-cancer/"},{"id":"metastatic-anal-cancer","kind":"cancer","name":"Metastatic and recurrent anal squamous cell carcinoma","route":"/cancers/metastatic-anal-cancer/"},{"id":"thyroid","kind":"cancer","name":"Thyroid cancer","route":"/cancers/thyroid/"}],"section":[{"id":"diagnostics","kind":"section","name":"Diagnostics & Biomarkers","route":"/fronts/diagnostics/"}],"technology":[{"id":"liquid-biopsy","kind":"technology","name":"Liquid biopsy (ctDNA)","route":"/technologies/liquid-biopsy/"},{"id":"mrd-testing","kind":"technology","name":"MRD / molecular residual disease testing","route":"/technologies/mrd-testing/"}],"term":[{"id":"ctdna","kind":"term","name":"Circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA)","route":"/terms/ctdna/"},{"id":"hpv-p16","kind":"term","name":"HPV-positive (p16) head and neck cancer","route":"/terms/hpv-p16/"},{"id":"plasma-ebv-dna","kind":"term","name":"Plasma EBV DNA","route":"/terms/plasma-ebv-dna/"}],"paper":[{"id":"paper-chera-j-clin-oncol","kind":"paper","name":"Plasma Circulating Tumor HPV DNA for the Surveillance of Cancer Recurrence in HPV-Associated Oropharyngeal Cancer","route":"/key-papers/paper-chera-j-clin-oncol/"}],"pairing":[{"id":"hpv-deescalation-caution","kind":"pairing","name":"Caution: de-escalating radiation on HPV status alone","route":"/pairings/hpv-deescalation-caution/"}],"idea":[{"id":"idea-cthpv-adapted-deescalation","kind":"idea","name":"ctHPV-DNA-adapted de-escalation of chemoradiation","route":"/ideas/idea-cthpv-adapted-deescalation/"}],"pathway":[{"id":"oncogenic-viruses","kind":"pathway","name":"Oncogenic viruses","route":"/pathways/oncogenic-viruses/"}]}}