Research Demonstrates the Clinical Utility of DdPCR-Based Liquid Biopsy at the 2018 AACR Annual Meeting



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A new study demonstrating the clinical utility of Bio-Rad's PCR-powered Liquid Biopsy Liquid (ddPCR) will be presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), which will be held in Atlanta from March 29th to April 3rd. relies on the sensitivity, speed and cost-effectiveness of ddPCR technology to measure reproducible blood-based tumor biomarkers.

Quoted in more than 900 liquid biopsy publications, the ddPCR technology is often used by oncology researchers and oncologists to track disease progression and determine response to treatment, but it remains to be determined whether the change in treatment based on this timely information translates into better results for patients. A large ongoing phase 3 study addresses this issue by badyzing circulating tumor DNA (cDNA) in plasma using ddPCR technology. Below, we highlight this study and other notable research that will be presented at this year's AACR Annual Meeting.

Liquid biopsy may be superior to tissue biopsy in predicting response to bad cancer treatment

Sara Tolaney, MD, MPH, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and her collaborators used the ddPCR technology to study the benefits of tracking drug resistance mutations in the cDNA of patients with cancer metastatic bad with positive hormone receptors.

In the phase 3 study, the researchers measured the mutations of two genes involved in drug resistance. Their study included 334 plasma samples and 434 archival tissue samples from 669 patients treated either by chemotherapy alone or by chemotherapy plus abemaciclib. The researchers found a correlation between the presence of resistance mutations and the response to abemaciclib in ctcDNA, but not in tissue samples. They also found that although the addition of abemaciclib was beneficial for all patients, resistance mutations benefited more.

"These results argue for the use of ctDNA and liquid biopsies to identify molecular alterations that could help inform treatment choices," Tolaney said.

The next step is to validate these data as part of prospective clinical trials.

This poster (summary no. 4458) will be presented on Tuesday, April 2, from 3 to 3 pm in Room B312.

The cDNA could be a predictor of successful surgery for malignant pleural mesothelioma

Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is an aggressive but relatively rare tumor badociated with exposure to asbestos. Most patients with MPM are over 70 years old. Surgical intervention can be risky and not improve the results. Luke Martinson, PhD, of the University of Leicester, and his colleagues conducted a proof-of-principle study to understand the potential use of ctDNA as a prognostic biomarker of surgical success in these patients .

Scientists compared the genetic differences between tumor tissue and normal tissue in 11 patients with MPM and developed a ddPCR test capable of detecting the specific DNA of the MPM. Then they tested blood samples from patients taken before surgery. The results showed that patients with MPM-specific cDNA had a poorer prognosis after surgery.

"The detection of cDNA requires very sensitive methods and the technology of ddPCR was perfectly suited to help us answer the question of whether the status of the cDNA informed patient survival or not." said Martinson.

The researchers hope to confirm the preliminary results with a larger cohort. If validated, cDNA would be one of the few known prognostic markers for MPM.

This poster (Abstract No. 1349) will be presented on Monday, April 1, from 8 am to noon in Section 18.

Detection of treatment resistance in HER2 negative bad cancer

Continuing the work presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology last year, researchers wondered whether the evolution of treatments could be effective for patients with advanced bad cancer when mutations were detected in their cDNA. This is the first large-scale effort to monitor resistance mutations and personalize bad cancer treatment in real-time, according to François-Clément Bidard, MD, Ph.D., of L & # 39; Institut Curie, Paris, the author of the study.

This phase 3 clinical trial, conducted in more than 80 French cancer centers, enrolled 1,000 patients with metastatic bad cancer with estrogen receptors positive, HER2-negative, endocrinologically treated. Using ddPCR-based liquid biopsy tests – performed both before and during treatment – researchers are monitoring the emergence of ESR1 mutations related to resistance to endocrine therapy. Although the study is still ongoing, preliminary results indicate that ddPCR technology can rapidly detect the presence of ESR1 mutations.

"Digital Droplet PCR is the only cost-effective solution that allows us to track the real-time appearance of ESR1 mutations in thousands of serial cDNA samples," said Bidard.

If this study determines that it is more efficient to replace patients with ESR1 mutations with a new treatment, ddPCR could potentially be applied clinically to continually monitor patients and help physicians know when to make this transition. .

This ongoing study will be presented on Monday, April 1st from 1pm to 2pm during the SY31 session.

The new Bio-Rad scATAC-Seq solution and the FDA-approved FDA-approved% IS QXDx kit will be on display at the Bio-Rad booth (# 2627). In addition, Bio-Rad will introduce its new ddPCR multiplexing supermix for multiple target detection. To learn more about Bio Rad's ddPCR technology, visit the booth or bio-rad.com/digitalPCR.

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