Liquid biopsy application has gained rising attention in oncology fields, especially for circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in clinical utility. Based on a presentation from the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) Annual Conference in Japan, the researchers recruited 76 advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with unknown driver mutations and adopted next-generation sequencing (NGS) with a 21 gene assay to identify unknown drivers in ctDNA. The results showed that detection rate is 60% of patients. Moreover, oncogenic drivers were detected, including HER2 exon 20 insYVMA, BRAF L597Q and MET exon 14 mutations in 27 patients (36%). Among patients with oncogenic mutations, 11 (14%) patients were enrolled in clinical trials, and 10 patients showed partial response after genotype-matched therapies. These findings suggest that via NGS, liquid biopsy can be utilized to detect driver mutations and guide further treatment in clinical setting in the future.

1. Cancer Therapy Advisor: http://www.cancertherapyadvisor.com/iaslc-2017/lung-cancer-nsclc-liquid-biopsy-unknown-driver-mutation/article/701193/
2. IASLC:https://library.iaslc.org/search-speaker?search_speaker=57392