A proof-of-concept study in ovarian cancer shows advantage of using liquid biopsy for the earlier detection of disease relapse.
Pathologists at the Mayo Clinic have validated a technique in a small number of patients with ovarian cancer to show that liquid biopsies have the potential to predict relapse much before the tumor reappears.
The technique of monitoring the circulation of DNA fragments released from tumor cells has been shown advantageous in a number of different tumor types, including breast, prostate, melanoma, and colorectal cancers. The fact that patients with advanced disease have higher levels of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) compared with patients with early stage disease can be a significant advantage for earlier diagnosis over traditional biopsy methods.
“With liquid biopsies, we don’t have to wait for tumor growth to get a DNA sample,” according to George Vasmatzis, PhD, senior author on the study. “This important discovery makes it possible for us detect recurrence of the disease earlier than other diagnostic methods,” which he believes could ensure a better treatment plan.
For this proof-of-concept study, researchers drew blood samples from 10 patients with advanced stage ovarian cancer, before and after surgery. Using mate-pair sequencing—a next generation sequencing (NGS) technique—they identified somatic structural genomic alterations in primary tumors and in the blood samples. This NGS technique is a precision approach that allows a more individualized approach to treatment by mapping aberrant DNA junctions in the samples.
For 8 of the patients, rearrangements in the cfDNA from pre-surgical plasma matched the primary tumor; further, 3 patients continued to show presence of ctDNA in their postsurgery samples, consistent with recurrence, as documented at the time of blood draw. For the 5 patients whose blood samples did not show the presence of ctDNA, they had been confirmed as being in remission at the time of blood draw. This confirmed a concordance between detection of ctDNA and clinical presentation at the time of blood draw, the authors write.
The authors list the following limitations of their study:
Reference
Harris FR, Kovtun IV, Smadbeck J, et al. Quantification of somatic chromosomal rearrangements in circulating cell-free DNA from ovarian cancers [published online July 20, 2016]. Sci Rep. doi:10.1038/srep29831.
Low-Volume Hospitals Had Higher Reoperation Rate, Postoperative Complications in CRC
April 18th 2024Patients opting for elective colorectal surgery to address colorectal cancer (CRC) could have different rates of reoperation and postoperative complications based on the size of the hospital.
Read More
Prices for care at hospital trauma centers vary across hospitals; drug shortages reached a record high during the first quarter of 2024; although 3 of the biggest makers of asthma inhalers pledged to cap out-of-pocket costs for some US patients at $35, these do not apply to daily inhalers used by the youngest kids with asthma.
Read More
Oncology Onward: A Conversation With Penn Medicine's Dr Justin Bekelman
December 19th 2023Justin Bekelman, MD, director of the Penn Center for Cancer Care Innovation, sat with our hosts Emeline Aviki, MD, MBA, and Stephen Schleicher, MD, MBA, for our final episode of 2023 to discuss the importance of collaboration between academic medicine and community oncology and testing innovative cancer care delivery in these settings.
Listen
Study Links COVID-19 Pandemic to Rise in Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy for Ovarian Cancer in US
April 17th 2024There was greater use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy among US patients with ovarian cancer (OC) during the COVID-19 pandemic to reduce potential COVID-19 exposure and cancer treatment-related complications.
Read More