Clinical value of perioperative levels of DNA and mRNA in plasma of patients with renal cell carcinoma (original) (raw)

Association of Circulating Tumor DNA (ctDNA) Detection in Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma (mRCC) with Tumor Burden

Kidney Cancer

Background: In a series of 224 patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC), we have previously reported circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) detection in 79% of patients. Clinical factors associated with detection are unknown. Methods: Data was obtained from patients with radiographically confirmed stage IV RCC who received ctDNA profiling as a part of routine clinical care using a CLIA-certified platform evaluating 73 genes. Detailed clinical annotation was performed, including assessment of International Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Database Consortium (IMDC) risk score, previous and current treatments and calculation of tumor burden using scan data most proximal to ctDNA assessment. Tumor burden was equated to the sum of longest diameter (SLD) of all measurable lesions. Results: Thirty-four patients were assessed (18 male and 16 female) with a median age of 62 (range, 34-84). Twenty-six patients, 4 patients and 4 patients had clear cell, sarcomatoid and papillary histologies, respectively. IMDC risk was good, intermediate and poor in 14, 19 and 1 patient, respectively. ctDNA was detected in 18 patients (53%) with a median of 2 genomic alterations (GAs) per patient. No associations were found between IMDC risk, histology or treatment type and presence/absence of ctDNA. However, patients with detectable ctDNA had a higher SLD compared to patients with no detectable ctDNA (8.81 vs 4.49 cm; P = 0.04). Furthermore, when evaluated as a continuous variable, number of GAs was correlated with SLD (P = 0.01). Conclusions: With the caveat of a limited sample size, it appears that SLD (a surrogate for tumor burden) is higher in mRCC patients with detectable ctDNA. Confirmation of these findings in larger series is ongoing and may suggest a capability for ctDNA to either complement or supplant radiographic assessment.

Circulating Cell-Free DNA in Renal Cell Carcinoma: The New Era of Precision Medicine

Cancers

Tumor biopsy is still the gold standard for diagnosing and prognosis renal cell carcinoma (RCC). However, its invasiveness, costs, and inability to accurately picture tumor heterogeneity represent major limitations to this procedure. Analysis of circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) is a non-invasive cost-effective technique that has the potential to ease cancer detection and prognosis. In particular, a growing body of evidence suggests that cfDNA could be a complementary tool to identify and prognosticate RCC while providing contemporary mutational profiling of the tumor. Further, recent research highlighted the role of cfDNA methylation profiling as a novel method for cancer detection and tissue-origin identification. This review synthesizes current knowledge on the diagnostic, prognostic, and predictive applications of cfDNA in RCC, with a specific focus on the potential role of cell-free methylated DNA (cfMeDNA).

Comprehensive characterization of cell-free tumor DNA in plasma and urine of patients with renal tumors

Genome Medicine, 2020

BackgroundCell-free tumor-derived DNA (ctDNA) allows non-invasive monitoring of cancers, but its utility in renal cell cancer (RCC) has not been established.MethodsHere, a combination of untargeted and targeted sequencing methods, applied to two independent cohorts of patients (n = 91) with various renal tumor subtypes, were used to determine ctDNA content in plasma and urine.ResultsOur data revealed lower plasma ctDNA levels in RCC relative to other cancers of similar size and stage, with untargeted detection in 27.5% of patients from both cohorts. A sensitive personalized approach, applied to plasma and urine from select patients (n = 22) improved detection to ~ 50%, including in patients with early-stage disease and even benign lesions. Detection in plasma, but not urine, was more frequent amongst patients with larger tumors and in those patients with venous tumor thrombus.With data from one extensively characterized patient, we observed that plasma and, for the first time, urine...

Clinical utility of tumor genomic profiling in patients with high plasma circulating tumor DNA burden or metabolically active tumors

Journal of Hematology & Oncology, 2018

Background: This retrospective study was undertaken to determine if the plasma circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) level and tumor biological features in patients with advanced solid tumors affected the detection of genomic alterations (GAs) by a plasma ctDNA assay. Method: Cell-free DNA (cfDNA) extracted from frozen plasma (N = 35) or fresh whole blood (N = 90) samples were subjected to a 62-gene hybrid capture-based next-generation sequencing assay FoundationACT. Concordance was analyzed for 51 matched FoundationACT and FoundationOne (tissue) cases. The maximum somatic allele frequency (MSAF) was used to estimate the amount of tumor fraction of cfDNA in each sample. The detection of GAs was correlated with the amount of cfDNA, MSAF, total tumor anatomic burden (dimensional sum), and total tumor metabolic burden (SUVmax sum) of the largest ten tumor lesions on PET/CT scans. Results: FoundationACT detected GAs in 69 of 81 (85%) cases with MSAF > 0. Forty-two of 51 (82%) cases had ≥ 1 concordance GAs matched with FoundationOne, and 22 (52%) matched to the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN)-recommended molecular targets. FoundationACT also detected 8 unique molecular targets, which changed the therapy in 7 (88%) patients who did not have tumor rebiopsy or sufficient tumor DNA for genomic profiling assay. In all samples (N = 81), GAs were detected in plasma cfDNA from cancer patients with high MSAF quantity (P = 0.0006) or high tumor metabolic burden (P = 0.0006) regardless of cfDNA quantity (P = 0.2362). Conclusion: This study supports the utility of using plasma-based genomic assays in cancer patients with high plasma MSAF level or high tumor metabolic burden.

Circulating Cell-Free DNA Levels in Patients with Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma

2017

Background: Limited data about biomarkers are available to predict the outcomes of targeted therapy in metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC). Circulating cell-free DNA (CFD) is elevated in various cancers. Patients and Methods: We performed a prospective study of patients with mRCC who received targeted therapy in the Soroka Medical Center between 2013 and 2015. CFD levels were measured using a simple fluorometric assay. Blood samples for CFD were collected before treatment and at weeks 1, 4, 12, 18, and 24 of treatment. The normal cut-off level of CFD was defined as 800 ng/ml. The association of CFD with objective response, progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival was tested, with adjustment for known confounding risk factors. Results: A total of 23 patients were included; 18 were treated with first-line therapy and 5 with second- and third-line therapies. Patients with normal pretreatment CFD level had a better PFS versus patients with increased levels (p = 0.023). I...

Quantitative Analysis of Circulating Plasma DNA as a Tumor Marker in Thoracic Malignancies

Background: Increased plasma DNA has been found in cancer patients and may have potential as a tumor marker. The objectives of this study were to develop a controlled, quantitative PCR (QPCR) assay to measure plasma DNA and then evaluate plasma DNA concentrations as a tumor marker in patients with thoracic malignancies. Methods: We developed a QPCR assay for DNA, using the human ␤-actin gene. Plasma samples were analyzed from 58 patients with esophageal cancer (EC; 20 banked samples and 38 prospectively collected samples) and 25 patients with lung cancer (LC; all prospectively collected). Control groups consisting of 51 patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD; 23 banked samples and 28 prospectively collected) and 11 healthy volunteers were also analyzed.

Determination of Expression Signature and Proportion of mtDNA in Plasma Fractions in Patients with Renal Cell Carcinoma

The 1st International Electronic Conference on Genes: Theoretical and Applied Genomics, 2020

Renal Cell Carcinoma (RCC) is the third most common urologic malignancy, remaining one of the most lethal urological malignancies, preferably in developed countries. The incidence and mortality rates differ significantly according to sex, race, age and external factors such as smoking, obesity and hypertension increasing RCC risk. The use of novel predictive biomarkers is currently being increased as these improve the diagnosis, progression and prognosis of RCC. Since recent studies have demonstrated a promising association between mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) copy number alteration in peripheral blood and the risk of developing RCC, we conducted a casecontrol study into a cohort of 15 controls and 13 patients to determine exosomes mtDNA content in plasma fractions as a potential novel non-invasive biomarker in liquid biopsy in order to monitor the RCC status in patients. In this way, plasma fractions highly purified in exosomes were obtained from blood samples from controls and RCC cases, and relative mtDNA content was measured by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Our results show fragment size distribution profile and we observed that in phase F; with a higher content of exosomal mtDNA; p value shows statistically significant differences in mitochondrial genes HV long and CYB long.

Proof of concept: prognostic value of the plasmatic concentration of circulating cell free DNA in desmoid tumors using ddPCR

Oncotarget, 2018

Since desmoid tumors (DT) exhibit an unpredictable clinical course, with stabilization and/or spontaneous regression, an initial "wait-and-see" policy is the new standard of care-thus, the actual challenge is to identify early factors of progression. We present a method of detection of CTNNB1 mutations using a targeted digital droplet PCR (ddPCR) on cell-free DNA (cfDNA) extracted from blood samples of 31 DT patients. Furthermore, we analyzed the correlation between DT evolution and plasmatic concentration of total and mutated cfDNA at the time of diagnosis. Circulating copies of CTNNB1 mutants (ctDNA) were detected in the plasma of 6 patients (33%) but their concentration was not correlated with evolution of the tumor. Concentration of total cfDNA was higher in the plasma of patients with progressive desmoids (p = 0,0009). Using a threshold <900 copies/mL of plasma to detect indolent desmoid and a threshold >1375, it was possible to predict desmoid evolution for 65% of patients by measuring the quantity of circulating DNA in their plasma as early as the time of diagnosis. Albeit showing that the detection of CTNNB1 mutants is possible in the plasma of patients harboring a desmoid tumor, the results of this preliminary study raise the hypothesis that most of the circulating DNA detected in their plasma is derived from non-neoplastic cells, most likely normal neighboring tissues being actively invaded. Our results open the perspective of using cfDNA as a biomarker to predict prognosis at the time of diagnosis and assess tumor dynamics to optimize the treatment strategy.

Circulating tumor DNA in cancer diagnosis, monitoring, and prognosis

2022

Background: Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) has become one of the crucial components for cancer detection with the increase of precision medicine practice. ctDNA has great potential as a blood-based biomarker for the detection and treatment of cancer in its early stages. The purpose of this article was to discuss ctDNA and how it can be utilized to detect cancer. The benefits and drawbacks of this cancer detection technology, as well as the field's future possibilities in various cancer management scenarios, are discussed. Main text: ctDNA has clinical applications in disease diagnosis and monitoring. It can be used to identify mutations of interest and genetic heterogeneity. Another use of ctDNA is to monitor the effects of therapy by detecting mutation-driven resistance. Different technologies are being used for the detection of ctDNA. Next-generation sequencing, digital PCR, real-time PCR, and mass spectrometry are used. Using dPCR makes it possible to partition and analyze individual target sequences from a complex mixture. Mass-spectrometry technology enables accurate detection and quantification of ctDNA mutations at low frequency. Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) and UltraSEEK are two systems based on this technology. There is no unified standard for detecting ctDNA as it exists in a low concentration in blood. As there is no defined approach, false positives occur in several methods due to inadequate sensitivities. Techniques used in ctDNA are costly and there is a limitation in clinical settings. Short conclusion: A detailed investigation is urgently needed to increase the test's accuracy and sensitivity. To find a standard marker for all forms of cancer DNA, more study is needed. Low concentrations of ctDNA in a sample require improved technology to provide the precision that low concentrations of ctDNA in a sample afford.

Clinical utility of circulating tumor DNA in human cancers

memo - Magazine of European Medical Oncology, 2015

The use of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) as a prognostic and/or predictive biomarker has been proven in numerous studies. Recent technical advancements have improved sensitivity, specificity, and feasibility of ctDNA detection enabling innovative clinical applications. Besides its potential use as a diagnostic biomarker and the detection of recurrence or minimal residual disease, the most widespread application of the so-called liquid biopsy is real-time monitoring of treatment response and tumor evolution. Since tissue biopsies provide just a static snapshot of the tumor at the time of biopsy and do not necessarily represent the entire tumor genome, a sequential analysis of ctDNA enables an early identification of resistance mechanisms before they become clinically obvious. Furthermore, novel therapy targets that have not been present in available tumor samples might be identified. However, for an actual implementation of the liquid biopsy in clinical practice, it is essential to develop standardized pre-analytical and analytical methodologies and to resolve some outstanding question with respect to origin, biology, and dynamics of ctDNA. In this short review, the clinical utility and existing limitations of ctDNA focusing on monitoring treatment response will be discussed.