Real-life disease monitoring in follicular lymphoma patients using liquid biopsy ultra-deep sequencing and PET/CT

LEUKEMIA — 2023 

Authors

Jiménez-Ubieto A., et al.

This real-life follicular lymphoma study showed that liquid biopsy MRD monitoring by ultra-deep sequencing complements PET/CT and helps identify patients at higher risk of progression. 

Topics

Hematologic malignancies · Follicular lymphoma · MRD · PET/CT · TRACKseq

Expanded summary

This study screened 84 follicular lymphoma patients using a targeted NGS panel to identify somatic mutations suitable for liquid biopsy MRD monitoring. Trackable mutations were found in 95% of lymph node samples and 80% of baseline liquid biopsy samples, and an ultra-deep sequencing approach was used to monitor 151 follow-up liquid biopsy samples from 54 treated patients.

Positive liquid biopsy MRD during first-line therapy correlated with a higher risk of progression at interim and end-of-treatment evaluations. When liquid biopsy MRD was combined with PET/CT, the approach identified patients who progressed within two years with 88% sensitivity and 100% specificity in the study setting.

For Altum, this article is especially important because it directly supports the concept of ctDNA-based MRD monitoring as a complementary molecular layer to imaging in follicular lymphoma, aligning with the “when imaging is not enough” positioning. 

View article: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41375-022-01803-x