Dr. Singh on the Prevalence of Genomic Testing in Urothelial Cancer

Parminder Singh, MD, hematologist/oncologist, Mayo Clinic, discusses the prevalence of genomic testing in urothelial cancer.

Most medical oncologists have incorporated various genomic assays into their practices, says Singh. Some of the commonly used assays include FoundationOne, Caris, and newer platforms from Tempus. These platforms can shed light on a patient’s PD-L1 status, tumor mutational burden, in addition to FGFR3 and DNA damage repair mutations. Genetic testing is recognized as a standard of care in urothelial cancer, but the ways in which these markers are tested for may change in the future, adds Singh.

For example, the technology behind circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is developing at a rapid pace which may provide a means of testing for these markers during treatment, says Singh. In the next few years, the field is likely to move beyond baseline testing and incorporate sequential testing with ctDNA in practice.