Granted Patent B2

US 12,516,385 · App. 19/073,665 · Granted Jan 6, 2026

Inventor: John West (Cupertino, CA)

Assignee: Personalis, Inc.

C12Q1/6886A61K31/7068G16B45/00C12Q1/6809C12Q1/6827C12Q2600/156

Abstract

Claims (43)

1 . A method for detecting a presence or recurrence of a solid tumor, comprising:

(a) generating a first set of sequence reads and a second set of sequence reads by independently performing whole genome sequencing on: (i) nucleic acid molecules extracted from a tissue sample of a subject, wherein the tissue sample comprises a benign tissue, a malignant tissue, or a mixed tissue sample, and (ii) nucleic acid molecules extracted from leukocytes from a first blood sample, wherein the leukocytes are a normal sample;

(b) comparing with a programmed computer processor the first set of sequence reads and the second set of sequence reads to identify mosaic variants, wherein the mosaic variants are present in the first set of sequence reads and are not present in the second set of sequence reads;

(c) obtaining one or more blood samples from the subject at a later time point than the first tissue sample and the first blood sample;

(d) extracting non-amplified nucleic acid molecules from the one or more blood samples obtained in step (c);

(e) enriching nucleic acid molecules extracted from the one or more blood samples obtained in step (c) using a plurality of biotin-labeled capture probes in solution, wherein individual instances of the plurality of biotin-labeled capture probes are configured to hybridize to individual instances of the mosaic variants identified in step (b);

(f) performing a sequencing assay on the nucleic acid molecules enriched in step (e) to identify the presence or absence of individual instances of the mosaic variants identified in step (b) one or more times over the life of the subject; and

(g) providing a report based on the presence or absence of the individual instances of mosaic variants in the one or more blood samples, thereby detecting the presence or recurrence of the solid tumor in the subject.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising, subsequent to the extracting of step (d) but prior to the enriching of step (e), amplifying the non-amplified nucleic acid molecules from the one or more blood samples from the subject.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the mosaic variants are selected from the group consisting of: (i) copy number variation, (ii) small insertions and deletions (inDels), (iii) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), (iv) multiple nucleotide polymorphisms (MNPs), and (v) any combination thereof.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the mosaic variants identified comprise somatic mosaicism.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the mosaic variants are causal or predisposing for a solid tumor.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the mosaic variants are non-causal for a solid tumor.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the sequencing assay of step (f) comprises next generation sequencing, duplex sequencing, or redundant sequencing.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more blood samples are separated into at least a first component that includes cell-free or surface-bound nucleic acid molecules and a second component that includes leukocytes.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the sequencing assay of step (f) is performed on the first component that includes cell-free or surface-bound nucleic acid molecules.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the cell-free nucleic acid molecules comprise cell-free DNA.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the report further comprises predicting, diagnosing, and/or prognosing a status or outcome of the solid tumor in the subject.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the predicting, diagnosing, and/or prognosing the status or outcome of the solid tumor comprises: (i) diagnosing the solid tumor, (ii) identifying the solid tumor, (iii) determining the stage of the solid tumor, (iv) assessing the risk of the solid tumor, (v) assessing the risk of recurrence of the solid tumor, (vi) assessing the efficacy of a drug, (vii) assessing risk of an adverse drug reaction, (viii) predicting optimal drug dosage, (ix) predicting drug resistance, or (x) a combination thereof.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the solid tumor comprises a sarcoma, a carcinoma, or a lymphoma.

14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the report further comprises a determination of state of health of the tissue sample.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the state of health of the tissue sample is determined by comparing a quantity of nucleic acid molecules from the tissue sample against a reference to identify a relative abundance of the nucleic acid molecules from the tissue sample.

16 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the state of health of the tissue sample is determined by aligning one or more nucleic acid sequences or portions thereof from the tissue sample to a genome or exome of the subject to identify a location of the one or more nucleic acid sequences or portions thereof from the tissue sample, which location is indicative of the state of health.

17 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the state of health of the tissue sample is determined by comparing one or more nucleic acid sequences or portions thereof from the tissue sample to a reference to determine an apoptotic pattern, necrotic pattern, or predetermined mutations.

18 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the state of health of the tissue sample is classified as unhealthy or potentially unhealthy.

19 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

(h) obtaining an additional blood or plasma sample from the subject at a time point later than the one or more blood samples;

(i) repeating steps (d)-(f) using nucleic acid molecules isolated from the additional blood or plasma sample; and

(j) providing an additional report based on the presence or absence of the mosaic variants in the additional blood or plasma sample, thereby detecting the presence or recurrence of the solid tumor in the subject.

20 . The method of claim 1 , wherein individual instances of the plurality of biotin-labeled capture probes each comprise different nucleic acid binding sites.

21 . The method of claim 1 , wherein individual instances of the plurality of biotin-labeled capture probes each comprise between about 10 to about 500 nucleotides.

22 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the enriching of step (e) comprises:

(i) hybridizing the non-amplified nucleic acid molecules from the one or more blood samples to the plurality of biotin-labeled capture probes in solution;

(ii) separating capture probe-hybridized non-amplified nucleic acid molecules from capture-probe free non-amplified nucleic acid molecules.

23 . The method of claim 22 , wherein the enriching of step (e) further comprises:

(iii) conducting one or more elution reactions on the capture probe-hybridized non- amplified nucleic acid molecules.

24 . The method of claim 22 , wherein, prior to the separating of step (e)(ii), the nucleic acid molecules extracted from the one or more blood samples are further hybridized to a plurality of beads, and the method further comprises fragmenting bead bound nucleic acid molecules, wherein the ratio of the volume of the beads to the volume of the nucleic acid sample is about 0.10 or more.

25 . The method of claim 22 , wherein, prior to the separating of step (e)(ii), the nucleic acid molecules extracted from the one or more blood samples are further hybridized to a plurality of beads, and the method further comprises fragmenting bead bound nucleic acid molecules, wherein the ratio of the volume of the beads to the volume of the nucleic acid sample is about 2.00 or less.

26 . The method of claim 1 , wherein at least a subset of the mosaic variants identified in step (f) are below an allele frequency in the one or more blood samples of less than about 0.1%.

27 . The method of claim 1 , wherein at least a subset of the non-amplified nucleic acid molecules extracted from the one or more blood samples are present at a concentration of about less than 1%.

28 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the mosaic variants identified in step (f) are detected with a specificity greater than about 90%.

29 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the mosaic variants identified in step (f) are detected with a sensitivity greater than about 90%.

30 . The method of claim 1 , wherein percent error rate of the sequencing assay of step (f) is less than about 0.001%.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (8)

References Cited (400)