Professor Caicun Zhou of Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital and GeneCast (Beijing) Biotechnology Co. co-authored the article “Mutational Landscape of cfDNA Identifies Distinct Molecular Features Associated With Therapeutic Response to First-line Platinum-Based Doublet Chemotherapy in Patients with Advanced NSCLC”, which was published in the respected Theranostics (IF=8.712), one of the authoritative journals in the field of biomedical science.

Volume: 2017, vol. 7, no. 19

Background：This study collected samples from phase III clinical trials and utilized a panel with 1.12 meter in length and 1,086 genes inside to capture the sequencing. And the molecular mutation burden (MMB) was applied to investigate the relation between cfDNA molecular feature and chemotherapy response.  

Results: A total of 52 eligible subjects were enrolled in the clinical trial. Blood was collected respectively at three stages: baseline blood, chemotherapy and disease progression. In baseline blood, molecular mutation burden (MMB), from 17 genes, in patients with partial response (PR) is lower than those with either stable disease (SD) (P= 0.0006) or progression disease (PD) (P= 0.0074). Further analysis of the study found that mutation features of cfDNA in blood samples of PR and SD or PD patient before treatment is distinctly different. For patients with TP53 mutation, MMB in PR group decreased significantly, while MMB in PD or SD patients increased after the second, third or fourth cycles of chemotherapy. In addition, patients with low MMB had a higher response rate and a longer progress free survival (PFS) than those with high MMB.  

Conclusion: The study reveals that the mutation characteristics of cfDNA have a potential clinical value in predicting the chemotherapy response of advanced non-small cell lung cancer. At the single gene level, the dynamic change of TP53 molecular mutation burden is of great significance for monitoring the therapeutic effect of patients with this mutation. (Thus it may contribute to early identification of resistance and recurrence).  

About Theranostics  

Found in 2011, the English journal Theranostics is published in the United States. It mainly covers the latest research findings in the fields of external molecular diagnosis, biological treatment, nanomedicine, translational medicine and basic biomedical sciences. Its impact factor in 2016 was 8.712 and it is indexed by SCI and Medline.