Data from Comparison of Circulating Tumor DNA Assays for Molecular Residual Disease Detection in Early-Stage Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Abstract

<div>AbstractPurpose:<p>Detection of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in patients who have completed treatment for early-stage breast cancer is associated with a high risk of relapse, yet the optimal assay for ctDNA detection is unknown.</p>Experimental Design:<p>The cTRAK-TN clinical trial prospectively used tumor-informed digital PCR (dPCR) assays for ctDNA molecular residual disease (MRD) detection in early-stage triple-negative breast cancer. We compared tumor-informed dPCR assays with tumor-informed personalized multimutation sequencing assays in 141 patients from cTRAK-TN.</p>Results:<p>MRD was first detected by personalized sequencing in 47.9% of patients, 0% first detected by dPCR, and 52.1% with both assays simultaneously (<i>P</i> < 0.001; Fisher exact test). The median lead time from ctDNA detection to relapse was 6.1 months with personalized sequencing and 3.9 months with dPCR (<i>P</i> = 0.004, mixed-effects Cox model). Detection of MRD at the first time point was associated with a shorter time to relapse compared with detection at subsequent time points (median lead time 4.2 vs. 7.1 months; <i>P</i> = 0.02).</p>Conclusions:<p>Personalized multimutation sequencing assays have potential clinically important improvements in clinical outcome in the early detection of MRD.</p></div>