- Guardant Health's Shield Multi-Cancer Detection test demonstrates high specificity and clinically meaningful sensitivity.
- Selected by the National Cancer Institute for inclusion in the Vanguard Study.
- Study results presented at the 2025 AACR annual meeting.
Guardant Health, Inc. (GH, Financial), a leader in precision oncology, revealed promising data from its Shield™ multi-cancer detection (MCD) test at the 2025 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting. The methylation-based blood test showcased high performance, achieving 98.5% specificity and a 60% overall sensitivity across ten tumor types. Impressively, the test’s sensitivity reached 74% for six particularly aggressive cancers, such as esophageal-gastric and lung cancers.
The findings were significant enough to prompt the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to choose the Shield MCD test for its Vanguard Study, aimed at evaluating emerging multi-cancer detection technologies. The test’s accuracy in predicting the cancer signal of origin was reported at 89%, marking significant progress in non-invasive cancer diagnostics.
“The Shield test offers promising early detection, especially for cancers difficult to identify with existing technology,” stated AmirAli Talasaz, co-founder and co-CEO of Guardant Health. "Detecting cancers earlier can greatly reduce cancer mortality rates."
The comprehensive study involved 778 participants with either a known cancer diagnosis or cancer-free status. Sensitivity varied by cancer type, the highest being 96% for esophageal-gastric cancer and the lowest at 21% for prostate cancer, all measured at 98.5% specificity. Such data underpin the Shield test's potential for broader use in cancer screening and early detection.
William Greenleaf, Ph.D., a professor of genetics at Stanford University, commented on the study's outcomes, emphasizing the potential of the Shield MCD test as a reliable screening tool, promising better outcomes through earlier intervention.
