Half of oncologists in the U.S. are now ordering MRD testing, according to Adam ElNaggar, MD of Natera — but the other half, he says, “are still figuring out how to use it, or that it even exists.”
In this episode, we talk with ElNaggar about the rapid rise of ctDNA-based monitoring and how it’s changing the very rhythm of cancer care. From Natera’s “tumor-informed” SignateraTM assay to its new “tissue-free” LatitudeTM test, the company is reshaping oncology around the molecular traces that cancer leaves behind.
“ctDNA-negative patients have an extremely low likelihood of showing disease on imaging,” he explains. “So rather than scanning every few months, we can tailor follow-up to when it’s actually needed—and spare the anxiety and cost that come with it.”
The conversation also covers Natera’s EmpowerTM hereditary cancer panel, which has expanded testing to all patients with ovarian and endometrial cancer, and a new Hereditary Cancer Alert program that nearly doubled testing rates among eligible patients. ElNaggar describes how hereditary and MRD testing now reinforce one another, helping clinicians catch missed cases and close the loop for families.
We finish with a look ahead: a future where ctDNA status becomes a staging element, where clinical trials are shortened by molecular endpoints, and where multi-omic assays—combining DNA, methylation, and protein—push oncology toward truly personalized medicine.
“We’re reaching the point,” says ElNaggar, “where staging won’t just be about pathology—it’ll be about biology.”
Note about trials mentioned:
IMvigor010 compared adjuvant atezolizumab to observation (surveillance) in an unselected muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) population
IMvigor011 prospectively randomized only ctDNA-positive MIBC patients to atezolizumab versus placebo
See all SignateraTM Publications here.
