New study seeks to revolutionise personalised treatment for lung cancer
16 April 2025
The ASPiRATION-2 Liquid study has been awarded $14.7 million in funding through a Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Frontier Grant.
Researchers from Peter Mac will collaborate with colleagues across Australia to evaluate the use of serial liquid biopsies for people with lung cancer.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in Australia and worldwide. Traditional treatments often become ineffective over time, requiring painful, expensive lung biopsies.
The ASPiRATION-2 Liquid study aims to overcome this using a 'liquid biopsy', a blood test that detects cancer by searching for circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) in the bloodstream.
The simple blood test will be repeated multiple times for each patient, offering more opportunities to tailor treatment without invasive procedures.
Peter Mac Medical Oncologist and clinician researcher Professor Ben Solomon is a Chief Investigator on the project.
“The ASPiRATION-2 Liquid trial presents a unique opportunity to redefine personalised medicine for lung cancer,” Prof Solomon explains.
Peter Mac’s other Chief Investigators on the study are Professor Tom John, Professor Sarah-Jane Dawson, and Professor Stephen Fox.
Lung cancer is the deadliest of all cancers, accounting for 17 per cent of cancer deaths in Australia and 18 percent globally.
Application of this exciting technology has the potential to improve outcomes for people with lung cancer across Australia, by helping treating teams to deliver the best care at the right time.
ASPiRATION-2 Liquid is a collaboration between Peter Mac, the Collaborative Centre for Genomic Cancer Medicine (a joint venture of the University of Melbourne and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre), the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre at the University of Sydney (CTC), and the Thoracic Oncology Group Australasia (TOGA).