Abstract
Background: Implementation of adjuvant therapies in non-metastatic melanoma improved treatment outcomes in some patients; however, adjuvant therapy can be associated with significant cost and risk of toxicity. Therefore, there is an unmet need to better identify patients at high risk of recurrence. Patients and methods: We carried out an ultrasensitive droplet digital PCR (ddPCR)-based detection of BRAFV600E-mutated circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) from blood samples prospectively collected before surgery, 1 hour after surgery, and then serially during follow-up. Results: In 80 patients (stages ≤III), BRAFV600E mutations were detected in 47.2% of tissue, in 37.7% of ctDNA samples collected before surgery, and in 25.9% of ctDNA samples collected 1 hour after surgery. Patients with detected ctDNA in blood collected 1 hour after surgery compared to patients without detected ctDNA had higher likelihood of melanoma recurrence (P < 0.001) and shorter median disease-free survival (P = 0.001) and overall survival (P = 0.003). Conclusions: Ultrasensitive ddPCR can detect ctDNA in pre- and post-surgical blood samples from patients with resectable melanoma. Detection of ctDNA in post-surgical samples is associated with inferior treatment outcomes.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 100357 |
Journal | ESMO Open |
Volume | 7 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Feb 2022 |
Keywords
- circulating tumor DNA
- liquid biopsy
- melanoma
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Oncology
- Cancer Research
MD Anderson CCSG core facilities
- Clinical and Translational Research Center