Detection of circulating tumor DNA in patients of operative colorectal and gastric cancers

Liquid biopsy is a non-invasive tool to examine the genetic profile of tumors by identification of mutated circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), which is often analyzed by next generation sequencing (NGS) or droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) assay. We first examined the ctDNA mutation in pre-operative plasma samples obtained from 154 colorectal cancer (CRC) and 46 gastric cancer (GC) patients, using the NGS-based panel assay. The overall detection rate of mutated ctDNA was 72.0% (144 of 200 patients), and the panel-based screening identified 207 and 47 mutations from CRC and GC patients, respectively. The ddPCR analysis was then performed on post-operative samples of 77 patients, and detection of mutated ctDNA was earlier than imaging-based diagnosis in all of 6 patients who showed the tumor recurrences after surgery. Our data also revealed that patients with positive post-operation ctDNA level showed significant shorter recurrence-free survival compared to the patients with negative ctDNA level (HR 14.9; 95% CI, 0.7–313.5; p < 0.0001). These findings suggested that screening of mutated ctDNA by liquid biopsy aids in identifying the patients at high risk of post-operative recurrence, and serial screening of ctDNA would allow to monitor the response after treatment and/or early detection of tumor recurrence.