Leveraging ctDNA to Diagnose and Monitor Relapsed and Newly Diagnosed Lymphoma (READILY)

Aim/goals:

1. Collect clinically annotated tissue and plasma specimens for molecular analysis.
2. Develop non-invasive biomarkers that predict response or resistance to therapy.
3. Gain knowledge of the genome biology of lymphoid malignancies.

Lymphomas represent a common form of cancer in Canada, with over 10,000 new diagnoses per year. Despite progress in the field, treatment resistance remains common and is at the same time poorly understood. By and large, we do not understand why patients with the same diagnosis may experience drastically different clinical outcomes. In this project, we aim to establish a repository of molecular data from tumour tissue and from plasma samples. We will leverage these data to design novel, non-invasive biomarkers and deepen our understanding of the molecular underpinnings of treatment resistance. The overall goal of this project is to define liquid biopsy-based diagnostic and prognostic tools to allow for the implementation of precision medicine in lymphoma.