US-Japan collaboration for liquid biopsy screening in lung cancer
August 21, 2026 | Friday | News
oncoReveal® Essential+ validated at LSI Medience for cfDNA/cfRNA screening in the LC-SCRUM-Asia project, with testing planned to begin in August 2026
US-based Pillar Biosciences, Inc., LC-SCRUM-Asia and LSI Medience Corporation have announced a collaboration to support genomic screening of blood-based samples from patients with lung cancer as part of the LC-SCRUM-Asia project in Japan.
Following approval of a revision to the LC-SCRUM-Asia project protocol, the participating organisations plan to begin testing in August 2026. The project is expected to include approximately 2,000 patients over a two-year period.
Pillar’s oncoReveal® Essential+ assay has been validated at LSI Medience for use as a screening test for circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) and cell-free RNA (cfRNA) samples collected from patients with lung cancer participating in the LC-SCRUM-Asia project. Testing will be performed by LSI Medience to support identification of genomic alterations relevant to the project’s research objectives.
Liquid biopsy testing can enable genomic analysis from blood samples when tissue is limited or when a minimally invasive sampling approach is desirable. By combining analysis of cfDNA and cfRNA, the LC-SCRUM-Asia project is designed to support broad screening for genomic alterations in patients with lung cancer.
The planned use of oncoReveal Essential+ within the LC-SCRUM-Asia project reflects the assay’s ability to support targeted NGS analysis from blood-based specimens within a decentralised laboratory workflow.