Circulating adenoid cystic carcinoma associated MYB transcripts enable rapid and sensitive detection of metastatic disease in blood liquid biopsies

Adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) is a rare and lethal malignancy that originates in secretory glands of the head and neck. A prominent molecular feature of ACC is the overexpression of the proto-oncogene MYB. ACC has a poor long-term survival due to its high propensity for recurrence and protracted metastasis. Currently, clinical technologies lack the efficiency to distinguish patient prognosis prior to its redevelopment. We hypothesize that metastatic ACC can be detected by monitoring tumor-specific MYB expression in patients’ blood. We developed a quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assay for MYB transcripts and screened blood samples from four patient cohorts: no history or evidence of ACC (n = 23), past history of ACC and no evidence of disease (NED) for greater than three years (n = 15), local ACC (n = 6), and metastatic ACC (n = 5). Our assay detected significantly elevated levels of MYB transcripts in the metastatic ACC cohort (p < 0.01). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves comparing metastatic to NED and metastatic to local disease were significant, with p values < 0.0001 and 0.0008, respectively. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) of blood from metastatic ACC identified a cluster of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) expressing MYB. Here, we report a sensitive, cost-effective, and minimally invasive diagnostic test that leverages tumor-specific signatures to screen for metastatic ACC disease, potentially enhancing detection earlier than the current clinical standard.