{"entity":{"id":"idea-prev-ebv-dna-npc-screening-scaleup","kind":"idea","name":"Blood EBV DNA screening for nasopharyngeal cancer across southern China and Southeast Asia","aka":[],"tldr":"Nasopharyngeal cancer is common in southern China and is caused by a virus. A blood test for viral DNA finds it early, and a large study showed better survival. Scale it up.","summary":"Plasma EBV DNA screening detected nasopharyngeal carcinoma at earlier stage with improved progression-free survival in a 20,000-man Hong Kong study. Propose programme rollout in high-incidence regions with two-time-point confirmation, endoscopy for persistent positives, and mortality evaluation via registries.","asOf":"2026-09-08","links":[{"label":"Bottleneck evidence (The hardest cancers are found late): Crosby et al., Early detection of cancer (Science 2022)","url":"https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aay9040"}],"tags":[],"related":[],"cancers":["head-and-neck"],"sections":["early-detection"],"technologies":["liquid-biopsy"],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":["sysucc"],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":["b-early-detection","b-global-access"],"keyPapers":["paper-crosby-science"],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"hypothesis":"Programme screening reduces nasopharyngeal cancer mortality by at least 30% in screened men aged 40-62 in high-incidence regions.","rationale":"A strong single-cancer test with a clear cause; high-incidence regions make positive predictive value acceptable.","test":"Cluster-randomised implementation in Guangdong or Guangxi with registry follow-up.","maturity":"being-tested-at-scale","actor":"policy","cost":"medium","horizonYears":6},"route":"/ideas/idea-prev-ebv-dna-npc-screening-scaleup/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"head-and-neck","kind":"cancer","name":"Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma","route":"/cancers/head-and-neck/"}],"section":[{"id":"early-detection","kind":"section","name":"Early Detection & Screening","route":"/fronts/early-detection/"}],"technology":[{"id":"liquid-biopsy","kind":"technology","name":"Liquid biopsy (ctDNA)","route":"/technologies/liquid-biopsy/"}],"institution":[{"id":"sysucc","kind":"institution","name":"Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center","route":"/institutions/sysucc/"}],"bottleneck":[{"id":"b-global-access","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Most of the world has almost no cancer care","route":"/bottlenecks/b-global-access/"},{"id":"b-early-detection","kind":"bottleneck","name":"The hardest cancers are found late","route":"/bottlenecks/b-early-detection/"}],"paper":[{"id":"paper-crosby-science","kind":"paper","name":"Early detection of cancer","route":"/key-papers/paper-crosby-science/"}]}}