Circulating Tumor DNA After Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Breast Cancer Is Associated With Disease Relapse

Detection of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with early-stage breast cancer may allow for early detection of relapse. In this study, we analyzed ctDNA using a personalized, tumor-informed multiplex polymerase chain reaction-based next-generation sequencing assay.

Plasma samples (n = 157) from 44 patients were collected before neoadjuvant therapy (baseline), after neoadjuvant therapy and before surgery (presurgery), and serially postsurgery including a last follow-up sample. The primary end point was event-free survival (EFS) analyzed using Cox regression models.

Thirty-eight (86%), 41 (93%), and 38 (86%) patients had baseline, presurgical, and last follow-up samples, respectively. Twenty patients had hormone receptor-positive/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative, 13 had triple-negative breast cancer, and 11 had human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive disease. Baseline ctDNA detection was observed in 22/38 (58%) patients and was significantly associated with Ki67 > 20% (P = .036) and MYC copy-number gain (P = .0025, false discovery rate = 0.036). ctDNA detection at presurgery and at last follow-up was observed in 2/41 (5%) and 2/38 (5%) patients, respectively. Eight relapses (seven distant and one local) were noted (median follow-up 3.03 years [range, 0.39-5.85 years]). After adjusting for pathologic complete response (pCR), ctDNA detection at presurgery and at last follow-up was associated with shorter EFS (hazard ratio [HR], 53; 95% CI, 4.5 to 624; P < .01, and HR, 31; 95% CI, 2.7 to 352; P < .01, respectively). Association between baseline detection and EFS was not observed (HR, 1.4; 95% CI, 0.3 to 5.9; P = .67).

The presence of ctDNA after neoadjuvant chemotherapy is associated with relapse in early-stage breast cancer, supporting interventional trials for testing the clinical utility of ctDNA monitoring in this setting.