Next-Generation Sequencing Analysis of Mutations in Circulating Tumor DNA from the Plasma of Patients with Head-Neck Cancer Undergoing Chemo-Radiotherapy Using a Pan-Cancer Cell-Free Assay

Overview

Journal Curr Oncol

Publisher MDPI

Specialty Oncology

Date 2023 Oct 27

PMID 37887543

Authors

Michael I Koukourakis

Erasmia Xanthopoulou

Ioannis M Koukourakis

Sotirios P Fortis

Nikolaos Kesesidis

Christos Kakouratos

Ioannis Karakasiliotis

Constantin N Baxevanis

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Using next-generation sequencing (NGS), we investigated DNA mutations in the plasma tumor cell-free circulating DNA (ctDNA) of 38 patients with inoperable squamous cell head neck cancer (SCHNC) before and after the completion of chemoradiotherapy (CRT). Baseline mutations of the were recorded in 10/38 (26.3%) and persisted in 4/10 patients after CRT. mutations were further detected post CRT in 7/38 additional patients with undetectable mutations at baseline (overall rate 44.7%). Furthermore, 4/38 patients exhibited baseline mutations of the , , , and and four new gene mutations were detected after CRT (, , , and . Τ4 stage was related with a significantly higher rate of mutations ( and overall). Mutations were observed in 8/30 (26.6%) responders (complete/partial response) vs. in 6/8 (75%) of the rest of the patients ( = 0.03). Significant poorer LRFS was noted for patients with mutations detected before and after CRT ( = 0.02). Patients who had detectable mutations either before or after CRT had significantly worse DMFS ( = 0.04 overall, and = 0.02 for mutations). It was concluded that assessment of mutations before and after the end of CRT is essential to characterize patients with a high risk of locoregional recurrence or metastatic progression.

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