Circulating Tumor DNA After 2 Weeks of Systemic Treatment

This pioneering study investigates the prognostic value of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) as a biomarker for monitoring treatment response in metastatic gastroesophageal cancer (mGEC). Despite advancements in personalized and multimodal treatments, the prognosis for mGEC remains poor, with low survival rates. ctDNA has emerged as a promising tool for non-invasive cancer monitoring, but its clinical implementation has not yet been fully realized. This study marks a pioneering effort in evaluating ctDNA kinetics using a serial liquid biopsy method that is easy to implement and clinically applicable. The study found that ctDNA changes within the first two weeks of chemotherapy were significantly associated with treatment response, with a 57.1% decline in ctDNA levels correlating with a better prognosis. This method was able to predict treatment response 80% faster than the current gold standard, computed tomography (CT), providing early insight into the effectiveness of systemic chemotherapy. Despite advances in personalized and multimodal treatment in recent years, the prognosis of metastasized gastroesophageal cancer (mGEC) is still poor. Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) has evolved as a promising new biomarker for treatment monitoring but has failed to reach clinical implementation yet. This study shows the immediate prognostic impact of ctDNA kinetics using an easily implementable clinical applicable method of serial liquid biopsies. Additionally, this personalized method enables early response to treatment evaluation 80% faster than current gold standard computed tomography (CT) after only 2 weeks of systemic chemotherapy.