An estimated 8,200 people in Canada will be diagnosed with head and neck cancers in 2026. One of the biggest challenges for those diagnosed is knowing if the cancer has come back after treatment. Often, cancer isn't found until it has already spread, which can make it more difficult to treat.
That's why Dr Cathie Garnis, a researcher funded by the Canadian Cancer Society, is developing a simple blood test that could show if cancer has returned more than a year before it appears on standard scans.
"It's important to detect recurrent disease early because currently there are no good methods for detecting recurrence before it's metastasized or before it's spread."
The test being developed by her team looks for a molecular signal in a person’s blood, a biomarker, that shows if cancer has returned.
"Once the disease has spread, there are very limited treatment options for these patients."
"By detecting the recurrence earlier, when it's smaller and hasn't spread to the rest of the body, we have more options such as surgery and radiation that will hopefully give us better outcomes."
Turning research into real impact
For nearly a decade, Dr Garnis and her team have been studying tumour tissue and blood samples, improving the biomarker and working to bring their research closer to clinical use.
It's so important to be able to take what we're doing in the lab and make it available to the clinicians who are treating patients, and to the patients themselves, so that they're getting the best care possible.In 2024, Dr Garnis received a Challenge Grant from the Canadian Cancer Society, to help fund her research and continue moving the test closer to clinical use.
"This support was very important in helping us generate the evidence needed to translate our findings into a test that could one day be used by patients."
Dr Garnis believes continued funding helps researchers build on what they've learned and bring new discoveries closer to the people who need them most.
"When we feel like we're making progress and we're able to answer some of our key questions, we usually have 10 more questions that we want to ask, and so ongoing support is key to our efforts."
Every moment is a gift
For Dr Garnis, the potential impact her research could have for people affected by cancer is what makes her work meaningful and gives her hope.
Knowing that my research could potentially help somebody is everything. That's why we do what we do. We want to help patients, and we want them to have more moments, more life.
That motivation is built on the amount of progress she's seen in cancer research and discovery over her career.
“When I think about all of the research that has come before me, the explosion of molecular biology and the new technologies like sequencing and single-cell sequencing that we could only dream about like not that long ago, and to be part of this, and to have my research be meaningful within this context, is amazing.”
This holiday season, support Canadian research like Dr Garnis’s.
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