Developing a blood test to personalize treatment and detect relapses earlier in Hodgkin lymphoma

Dr. Tomohiro Aoki will use a 2026 MOHCCN Clinician-Scientist Award to develop a liquid biopsy approach for monitoring treatment response and recurrence in Hodgkin lymphoma.

Uncertainty is one of the hardest things cancer patients endure while undergoing treatment. Is the therapy working? Is it killing all the cancer? Will the cancer eventually return?

Such is the case for patients with Hodgkin lymphoma, a blood cancer that mainly affects children, teenagers, and young adults. While current treatments against the disease are quite effective, doctors currently rely on imaging techniques to determine whether treatment is working and to watch for signs that the cancer has returned. But scans do not always provide clear answers, leaving patients and their care teams dealing with this dreaded uncertainty.

“As a hematologist who cares for patients with Hodgkin lymphoma, I see firsthand the uncertainty patients face while waiting to learn whether their treatment is working,” says Dr. Tomohiro Aoki, a hematologist and clinician scientist at UHN’s Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. “This experience has highlighted the need for a more precise and less invasive way to monitor disease and guide treatment decisions.”

To address this issue, Dr. Aoki will spend the next three years trying to develop a highly sensitive blood test that looks for tiny amounts of cancer DNA circulating in the bloodstream. These tests, also known as liquid biopsies, can provide a more precise picture of how a patient’s cancer is responding to treatment and identify relapse earlier than current approaches. They could also be used to stop treatments earlier, avoiding unnecessary toxicity and its associated long-term effects.

“By the end of this three-year project, we hope to establish a highly sensitive blood test that can detect and monitor Hodgkin lymphoma using circulating tumor DNA,” says Dr. Aoki. “Ultimately, our goal is to provide clinicians with a practical tool that supports more personalized treatment decisions and improves patient outcomes.”

The work will be funded through an MOHCCN Clinician-Scientist Award. A total of $525,000 will support Dr. Aoki’s project over three years, with $262,500 coming from the MOHCCN and matching funds from Leukemia Lymphoma Society of Canada, and Cancer Research Society. In addition to funding, the MOHCCN will provide Dr. Aoki with access to genomic expertise, infrastructure, data resources, and collaborators across Canada. This national environment, he says, will help his team develop and validate a made-in-Canada liquid biopsy platform for Hodgkin lymphoma while advancing the Network’s goal of using genomic technologies to deliver more personalized and timely cancer care.

For Dr. Aoki, the award also comes at an important point in his development as an independent clinician-scientist. “It provides important support at a critical stage of my career as I build an independent research program focused on improving outcomes for patients with lymphoma,” he says. “Beyond the funding, this recognition will help foster new collaborations, accelerate the translation of our discoveries into clinical practice and strengthen my long-term goal of becoming a leader in precision oncology research.”

“I am deeply honored and grateful to receive this award.”