Association of circulating DNA with recurrence in CRS-HIPEC patients with colorectal and appendiceal peritoneal carcinomatosis: Insights from a phase II randomized trial.

Abstract

3598 Background: There is a need for biomarkers to guide patient selection for cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (CRS-HIPEC) in cases of peritoneal carcinomatosis from colorectal and appendiceal cancer. SigNatera is a blood-based quantitative test to detect colorectal cancer recurrence by indicating the presence of at least two altered colorectal cancer-associated genes in Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA). We performed a correlative study to help determine if using SigNatera ctDNA would be a predictive and prognostic biomarker of recurrent cancer in patients who underwent CRS-HIPEC on a Phase II Randomized Trial Comparing Morbidity and Mortality of CRS-HIPEC using Mitomycin-C versus Melphalan for Colorectal and Appendiceal Peritoneal Carcinomatosis. Methods: 30 patients on the phase II trial had the option for consenting for the ctDNA correlative study utilizing SigNatera sponsored by Natera. Pre-op samples were collected prior to CRS-HIPEC on Day 0 and post-op samples ~2 weeks post-hospital discharge, followed by every 3 months x 2 years. The exploratory objective of the prognostic impact of ctDNA is evaluated by correlating pre-op ctDNA status and Disease-Free Survival (DFS) Results: All 30 pts that underwent ctDNA testing were treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy prior to CRS-HIPEC. Pre-op ctDNA was negative in 20 pts (8 recurrences, median DFS = 15.9 months) and positive in 10 pts (7 recurrences, median DFS = 39.9 months), p =0.19. Of the 20 pre-op ctDNA(-) pts, 18 remained ctDNA(-) in post-op (12 recurrences, median DFS = 15.6 months) and 2 turned ctDNA(+) (0 recurrences). Of the 10 pre-op ctDNA(+) pts, 2 remained ctDNA(+) post-op (1 recurrence, median DFS = 9.5 months) and 8 turned ctDNA(-) (2 recurrences, median DFS = 39.9 months), p=0.1. Conclusions: The unexpected numerically favorable DFS in the pre-op ctDNA(+) group, in comparison to the pre-op ctDNA(-) group, challenges the utility of preop ctDNA status in guiding CRS + HIPEC decision-making. Though limited by small sample size, this finding may be likely due to the impact of post-op therapy which notably converted 10 preop ctDNA(+) pts to post-op ctDNA(-) status. Our findings warrant validation in a larger study to unravel the multifaceted factors influencing ctDNA’s prognostic value. Clinical trial information: NCT03073694 . [Table: see text]