Circulating cell-free nucleic acids and platelets as a liquid biopsy in the provision of personalized therapy for lung cancer patients

Risk stratification, prognostication and longitudinal monitoring of therapeutic efficacy in lung cancer patients remains highly challenging. It is imperative to establish robust surrogate biomarkers for identifying eligible patients, predicting and effectively monitoring clinical response as well as timely detecting emerging resistance to therapeutic regimens. Circulating tumor biomarkers, analyzed by liquid biopsy, are primarily composed of nucleic acid-based circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) and an aneuploid cell-based category of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and circulating tumor-derived endothelial cells (CTECs). Unlike ctDNA, cancer cells are the origin of all categories of various tumor biomarkers. Involvement of aneuploid CTCs and CTECs in tumorigenesis, neoangiogenesis, tumor progression, cancer metastasis and post-therapeutic recurrence has been substantially investigated. Both CTCs and CTECs possessing an active interplay and crosstalk constitute a unique category of cellular circulating tumor biomarkers. These cells concurrently harbor the intact cancer-related genetic signatures and full tumor marker expression profiles in sync with disease progression and therapeutic process. Recent progress in clinical implementation of non-invasive liquid biopsy has made it feasible to frequently carry out ctDNA analysis and unbiased detection of a full spectrum of non-hematologic circulating rare cells including CTCs and CTECs in lung cancer patients, regardless of variation in heterogeneous cell size and cancer cell surface anchor protein expression. In situ phenotypic and karyotypic comprehensive characterization of aneuploid CTCs and CTECs, in combination with single cell-based genotyping and improved ctDNA analyses, will facilitate and benefit multidisciplinary management of lung cancer.

Download Full-text

Genetic diagnostic features after failure of initial treatment with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-tyrosine kinase inhibitors among non-small-cell lung cancer patients harboring EGFR mutations

10.21203/rs.3.rs-19425/v3 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Yuichiro Takeda ◽

Go Naka ◽

Yoh Yamaguchi ◽

Masao Hashimoto ◽

Manabu Suzuki ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Lung Cancer ◽

Cancer Patients ◽

Liquid Biopsy ◽

Growth Factor Receptor ◽

Egfr Mutations ◽

First Line ◽

Lung Cancer Patients ◽

Epidermal Growth ◽

Egfr Tki ◽

Egfr Tkis

Abstract Background: Osimertinib, a third - generation epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), can be used as a second-line treatment for lung cancer patients harboring the T790M substitution. Although osimertinib is more effective than the first-generation EGFR-TKIs used for first-line treatment, its efficacy with respect to long-term patient survival remains unclear even upon the administration of a complete sequence of EGFR-TKI therapy, and limited information is available regarding genetic diagnostic approaches after EGFR-TKI naïve treatment. This study investigated the characteristics of EGFR-mutated lung cancer patients harboring the T790M substitution resistance to EGFR-TKIs and the advantages of rebiopsy and liquid biopsy for these patients. Methods: The medical records of patients screened for EGFR mutations were reviewed. Upon failure of naïve treatment with EGFR-TKIs, except for osimertinib, single plexus cobas version 2 was repeatedly used to detect the T790M substitution in EGFR via tissue or liquid biopsy. Results: From April 2016 through May 2019, 113 patients were determined to harbor EGFR mutations. Sixty patients were treated with EGFR-TKIs, among which 46 underwent tissue or liquid biopsy. Twenty-nine of these 46 (63%) patients harbored the T790M substitution. In total, 141 rebiopsies were performed. The T790M substitution was detected in 24 of 43 tissue and 11 of 98 liquid biopsies. If patients displayed an EGFR exon 19 deletion, had new lesions, and were administered gefitinib as first-line therapy, patients harboring an EGFR mutation were suspected of harboring the T790M substitution. Furthermore, the T790M substitution was detected through rebiopsy in patients with co-existing original mutations, brain metastases, tumor enlargement by ≥ 12 mm, or metastases at minor sites. Conclusion: Repeated biopsy can help maximize the detection rate of the T790M substitution. Furthermore, the advantages of repeated tissue or liquid biopsy should be considered among patients with positive T790M factors , and these biopsies can be repeated numerous times .

Download Full-text

Genetic diagnostic features after failure of initial treatment with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-tyrosine kinase inhibitors among non-small-cell lung cancer patients harboring EGFR mutations

10.21203/rs.3.rs-19425/v4 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Yuichiro Takeda ◽

Go Naka ◽

Yoh Yamaguchi ◽

Masao Hashimoto ◽

Manabu Suzuki ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Lung Cancer ◽

Cancer Patients ◽

Liquid Biopsy ◽

Growth Factor Receptor ◽

Egfr Mutations ◽

Liquid Biopsies ◽

Lung Cancer Patients ◽

Epidermal Growth ◽

Egfr Tki ◽

Egfr Tkis

Abstract Background: Osimertinib, a third-generation epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), can be used as second-line treatment for lung cancer patients harboring the T790M substitution. Although osimertinib is more effective than the first-generation EGFR-TKIs used for first-line treatment, its efficacy with respect to long-term patient survival remains unclear even upon the administration of a complete sequence of EGFR-TKI therapy. Moreover, limited information is available regarding genetic diagnostic approaches after the treatment of EGFR-TKI–naïve patients. This study investigated the clinical characteristics of EGFR -mutated lung cancer patients harboring the T790M substitution resistant to EGFR-TKIs, as well as the advantages of rebiopsy and liquid biopsy for these patients. Methods: The medical records of patients screened for EGFR mutations were reviewed. Upon failure of naïve treatment with EGFR-TKIs, except for osimertinib, single-plexus cobas version 2 was repeatedly used to detect the T790M substitution in EGFR via tissue or liquid biopsy. Results: From April 2016 through May 2019, 113 patients were found to harbor EGFR mutations. Sixty patients were treated with EGFR-TKIs, among whom 46 underwent tissue or liquid biopsy. Twenty-nine of these 46 (63%) patients harbored the T790M substitution. In total, 141 rebiopsies were performed. The T790M substitution was detected in 24 of 43 tissue biopsies and 11 of 98 liquid biopsies. If patients displayed an EGFR exon 19 deletion, had a new lesion, and were administered gefitinib as first-line therapy, they were suspected to harbor the T790M substitution. Furthermore, the T790M substitution was detected through rebiopsy in patients with coexisting original mutations, brain metastases, tumor enlargement by ≥ 12 mm, or metastases at minor sites. Conclusion: Among patients with positive factors associated with the T790M mutation, repeated tissue or liquid biopsies are useful to maximize the detection rate of the T790M substitution. Furthermore, these biopsies need to be repeated numerous times in order to reduce “detection overlook” among such patients.

Download Full-text

Genetic diagnostic features after failure of initial treatment with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-tyrosine kinase inhibitors among non-small-cell lung cancer patients harboring EGFR mutations

BMC Cancer ◽

10.1186/s12885-020-07424-w ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Yuichiro Takeda ◽

Go Naka ◽

Yoh Yamaguchi ◽

Masao Hashimoto ◽

Manabu Suzuki ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Lung Cancer ◽

Cancer Patients ◽

Liquid Biopsy ◽

Growth Factor Receptor ◽

First Line ◽

Liquid Biopsies ◽

Lung Cancer Patients ◽

Epidermal Growth ◽

Egfr Tki ◽

Egfr Tkis

Abstract Background Osimertinib, a third-generation epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), can be used as second-line treatment for lung cancer patients harboring the T790M substitution. Although osimertinib is more effective than the first-generation EGFR-TKIs used for first-line treatment, its efficacy with respect to long-term patient survival remains unclear even upon the administration of a complete sequence of EGFR-TKI therapy. Moreover, limited information is available regarding genetic diagnostic approaches after the treatment of EGFR-TKI–naïve patients. This study investigated the clinical characteristics of EGFR-mutated lung cancer patients harboring the T790M substitution resistant to EGFR-TKIs, as well as the advantages of rebiopsy and liquid biopsy for these patients. Methods The medical records of patients screened for EGFR mutations were reviewed. Upon failure of naïve treatment with EGFR-TKIs, except for osimertinib, single-plexus cobas version 2 was repeatedly used to detect the T790M substitution in EGFR via tissue or liquid biopsy. Results From April 2016 through May 2019, 113 patients were found to harbor EGFR mutations. Sixty patients were treated with EGFR-TKIs, among whom 46 underwent tissue or liquid biopsy. Twenty-nine of these 46 (63%) patients harbored the T790M substitution. In total, 141 rebiopsies were performed. The T790M substitution was detected in 24 of 43 tissue biopsies and 11 of 98 liquid biopsies. If patients displayed an EGFR exon 19 deletion, had a new lesion, and were administered gefitinib as first-line therapy, they were suspected to harbor the T790M substitution. Furthermore, the T790M substitution was detected through rebiopsy in patients with coexisting original mutations, brain metastases, tumor enlargement by ≥12 mm, or metastases at minor sites. Conclusion Among patients with positive factors associated with the T790M mutation, repeated tissue or liquid biopsies are useful to maximize the detection rate of the T790M substitution. Furthermore, these biopsies need to be repeated numerous times in order to reduce “detection overlook” among such patients.

Download Full-text