2024 World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) - Posters-P3.06D.06 Incremental Value of Liquid Biopsy in the Initial Evaluation of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients Undergoing Tissue Based Molecular Testing

P3.06D.06 Incremental Value of Liquid Biopsy in the Initial Evaluation of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients Undergoing Tissue Based Molecular Testing

Back to course

Pdf Summary

The study titled "Incremental value of liquid biopsy in the initial evaluation of NSCLC patients undergoing tissue-based molecular testing" aims to assess how plasma-based next-generation sequencing (P-NGS) can enhance the identification of actionable genetic alterations (AGAs) in patients with non-squamous metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (mNSCLC) undergoing tissue-based NGS. It acknowledges that AGAs are detected in 45% of these patients and highlights the improved sensitivity of using concurrent tissue and plasma NGS compared to using tissue NGS alone.<br /><br />Conducted as a single-center, retrospective study between January 2019 and March 2022, it involved newly diagnosed, treatment-naive non-squamous mNSCLC patients who underwent concurrent tissue and plasma NGS at diagnosis. Of particular interest were patients showing discordant AGA results between tissue and plasma NGS. The study explored instances where P-NGS discovered alterations that tissue NGS did not and categorized them based on their tissue status, including scenarios involving true tissue negatives, incomplete testing, or inadequate panels.<br /><br />The study's outcomes demonstrated that in 44% (8 out of 18) of cases, patients received first-line targeted therapy due to AGAs detected solely via P-NGS. Plasma-exclusive alterations were observed in various biopsy sites, including pulmonary lesions, thoracic lymph nodes, bone metastases, and liver metastases.<br /><br />Key conclusions drawn suggest that concurrent tissue and plasma NGS notably enhances detection of AGAs, affirming its recommended use in the initial evaluation of all newly diagnosed mNSCLC patients. The study proposes that future research could further illuminate specific mechanisms by which plasma-based NGS aids in comprehensive tumor profiling, potentially linked to tissue assay inadequacies or tumor heterogeneity.

Asset Subtitle

Benjamin Bleiberg

Meta Tag

Speaker Benjamin Bleiberg

Topic Pathology & Biomarkers

Keywords

liquid biopsy

NSCLC

plasma-based NGS

genetic alterations

tissue-based NGS

molecular testing

targeted therapy

tumor profiling

retrospective study

tumor heterogeneity