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Updated: Jul 29, 2026
Detection and Monitoring of Tumor Associated Circulating DNA in Patient Biofluids
Published on: June 8, 2019
Postoperative circulating tumor DNA detection and CBLB mutations are prognostic biomarkers for gastric cancer
Hekai Zhou1, Houcong Liu1, Jun Li2
1Research Center for Clinical and Translational Medicine, Huazhong University of Science and Technology Union Shenzhen Hospital, and the 6th Affiliated Hospital of Shenzhen University Medical School, Guangdong, 518052, Shenzhen, China.
Background:
Several studies have demonstrated that circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) can be used to predict the postoperative recurrence of several cancers. However, there are few studies on the use of ctDNA as a prognosis tool for gastric cancer (GC) patients.
Objective:
This study aims to determine whether ctDNA could be used as a prognostic biomarker in GC patients through multigene-panel sequencing.
Methods:
Using next-generation sequencing (NGS) Multigene Panels, the mutational signatures associated with the prognosis of GC patients were identified. We calculated the survival probability with Kaplan-Meier and used the Log-rank test to compare survival curves between ctDNA-positive and ctDNA-negative groups. Potential application of radiology combined with tumor plasma biomarker analysis of ctDNA in GC patients was carried out.
Results:
Disease progression is more likely in ctDNA-positive patients as characterized clinically by a generally higher T stage and a poorer therapeutic response (P < 0.05). ctDNA-positive patients also had worse overall-survival (OS: P = 0.203) and progression-free survival (PFS: P = 0.037). The combined analysis of ctDNA, radiological, and serum biomarkers in four patients indicated that ctDNA monitoring can be a good complement to radiological and plasma tumor markers for GC patients. Kaplan-Meier analysis using a cohort of GC patients in the TCGA database showed that patients with CBLB mutations had shorter OS and PFS than wild-type patients (OS: P = 0.0036; PFS: P = 0.0027).
Conclusions:
This study confirmed the utility and feasibility of ctDNA in the prognosis monitoring of gastric cancer.
