ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Oncology in Veterinary Medicine
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvancements and Challenges in Veterinary Oncology - Volume IIView all 5 articles
OncoCan: A liquid biopsy assay for cell-free DNA (cfDNA) quantification in Canine plasma to support cancer diagnosis and prognosis
Provisionally accepted
Virginia Sánchez1,2Gal.la Farreny3Elena Martínez-Merlo1Sara Trancon1Carlos José Montanyes4Laura Enriquez3Arantxa Aguirrebeña3Agustín Arasanz Duque3
Antonia Noce3*- 1Complutense Veterinary Teaching Hospital and Department of Animal Medicine and Surgery, Veterinary Medicine School, Complutense University of Madrid., Avda. Puerta de Hierro s/n, 28040 Madrid., Spain
- 2Clinica Veterinaria Alameda., Calle del Alcalde Pedro González González 11, 28914 Leganés, Madrid., Spain
- 3Calle Xarol 18-20 C, OMICA BIOMED S.L., Badalona, Spain
- 4Molecular Biology Core, Hospital Clínic of Barcelona., Carrer de Villarroel, 170,08036 Barcelona., Spain
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Early cancer detection remains a major challenge in veterinary medicine. Cell-free DNA (cfDNA), released into the bloodstream through apoptosis, necrosis, or circulating tumor cells, can be quantified non-invasively via liquid biopsy and is already established in human oncology. In this study, we evaluated OncoCan, a targeted plasma cfDNA assay, by analyzing samples from 83 dogs with various neoplasms and 47 healthy controls to assess diagnostic and prognostic utility. Wilcoxon rank-sum testing revealed significantly higher cfDNA concentrations in neoplastic versus healthy samples (p = 4.45e–07). ROC curve analysis demonstrated high accuracy for lymphomas/leukemias (AUC = 0.95) and moderate accuracy for carcinomas (AUC = 0.75), sarcomas (AUC = 0.76), and melanomas (AUC = 0.69). Stratification by histological grade and clinical stage further supported cfDNA's predictive capability. Three practical thresholds were established: <50 pg/μL to distinguish healthy from neoplastic cases; ≥100 pg/μL as a "high positive" threshold indicating aggressive disease; and ≥300 pg/μL as a "very high positive" threshold strongly associated with systemic dissemination, high-grade histology, and poor survival. The <50 pg/μL cut-off showed robust diagnostic performance (AUC = 0.808, sensitivity = 82%, specificity = 73%), confirmed by survival analysis and hazard ratio modeling. These findings suggest that OncoCan provides a noninvasive, clinically applicable tool for cancer detection and prognosis in dogs. Validation in larger cohorts is warranted to support its integration into routine veterinary oncology practice.
Keywords: Cancer, cfDNA, diagnosis, Dogs, liquid biopsy
Received: 15 Dec 2025; Accepted: 27 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Sánchez, Farreny, Martínez-Merlo, Trancon, Montanyes, Enriquez, Aguirrebeña, Arasanz Duque and Noce. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Antonia Noce
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