Immunology and Molecular Oncology Unit, Istituto Oncologico Veneto IOV-IRCCS, Via Gattamelata 64, 35128 Padova, Italy.
Medical Oncology 2, Istituto Oncologico Veneto IOV-IRCCS, Via Gattamelata 64, 35128 Padova, Italy.
Int J Mol Sci. 2019 Dec 20;21(1):66. doi: 10.3390/ijms21010066.
Liquid biopsy is currently approved for management of epidermal growth factor receptor ()-mutated non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. However, one unanswered question is whether the rate of cell-free DNA (cfDNA)-negative samples is due to technical limitations rather than to tumor genetic characteristics. Using four microsatellite markers that map specific chromosomal loci often lost in lung cancer, we conducted a pilot study to investigate whether other alterations, such as loss of heterozygosity (LOH), could be detected in -negative cfDNA. We analyzed -mutated NSCLC patients ( = 24) who were positive or negative for mutations in cfDNA and compared the results with a second cohort of 24 patients bearing -mutated cancer, which served as a representative control population not exposed to targeted therapy. The results showed that in -negative post-tyrosine-kinase-inhibitor (TKI) cfDNAs, LOH frequency was significantly higher than in both pre- and post-TKI -positive cfDNAs. By contrast, no association between status in cfDNA and number of LOH events was found. In conclusion, our study indicates the feasibility of detecting LOH events in cfDNA from advanced NSCLC and suggests LOH analysis as a new candidate molecular assay to integrate mutation-specific assays.
液体活检目前已获准用于管理表皮生长因子受体 ()-突变型非小细胞肺癌 (NSCLC) 患者。然而,有一个悬而未决的问题是,无细胞游离 DNA (cfDNA)-阴性样本的比例是由于技术限制还是肿瘤遗传特征所致。我们使用四个微卫星标记,这些标记映射肺癌中经常丢失的特定染色体位置,进行了一项试点研究,以调查其他改变,如杂合性丢失 (LOH),是否可以在 -阴性 cfDNA 中检测到。我们分析了 24 名 cfDNA 中 突变阳性或阴性的 -突变型 NSCLC 患者,并将结果与 24 名携带 -突变型癌症的患者的第二组队列进行了比较,后者作为未接受靶向治疗的代表性对照人群。结果表明,在酪氨酸激酶抑制剂 (TKI) 治疗后 -阴性 cfDNA 中,LOH 频率明显高于 TKI 治疗前后的 -阳性 cfDNA。相比之下,cfDNA 中的 状态与 LOH 事件的数量之间没有关联。总之,我们的研究表明在晚期 NSCLC 的 cfDNA 中检测 LOH 事件是可行的,并表明 LOH 分析作为一种新的候选分子检测方法与突变特异性检测方法相结合。