Use of capture-based next-generation sequencing to detect ALK fusion in plasma cell-free DNA of patients with non-small-cell lung cancer

Oncotarget. 2017 Jan 10;8(2):2771-2780. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.13741.

Abstract

Capture-based next-generation sequencing (NGS) is a potentially useful diagnostic method to measure tumor tissue DNA in blood as it can identify concordant mutations between cell-free DNA (cfDNA) and primary tumor DNA in lung cancer patients. In this study, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of capture-based NGS for detecting ALK fusion in plasma cfDNA was assessed. 24 patients with tissue ALK-positivity and 15 who did not harbor ALK fusion were enrolled. 13 ALK-positive samples were identified by capture-based NGS among the 24 samples with tissue ALK-positivity. In addition to EML4-ALK, 2 rare fusion types (FAM179A-ALK and COL25A1-ALK) were also identified. The overall sensitivity, specificity and accuracy for all cases were 54.2%, 100% and 71.8%, respectively. For patients without distant metastasis (M0-M1a) and patients with distant metastasis (M1b), the sensitivities were 28.6% and 64.7%, respectively. In the 15 patients who received crizotinib, the estimated median PFS was 9.93 months. Thus, captured-based NGS has acceptable sensitivity and excellent specificity for the detection of ALK fusion in plasma cfDNA, especially for patients with distant metastasis. This non-invasive method is clinically feasible for detecting ALK fusion in patients with advanced-stage NSCLC who cannot undergo traumatic examinations or have insufficient tissue samples for molecular tests.

Keywords: anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK); capture-based next-generation sequencing; cell-free DNA (cfDNA); liquid biopsy; non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase
  • Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / diagnosis
  • Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / drug therapy
  • Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / genetics*
  • Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / mortality
  • Cell-Free Nucleic Acids*
  • Computational Biology / methods
  • Crizotinib
  • DNA, Neoplasm*
  • Female
  • High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing*
  • Humans
  • Kaplan-Meier Estimate
  • Liquid Biopsy / methods
  • Lung Neoplasms / diagnosis
  • Lung Neoplasms / drug therapy
  • Lung Neoplasms / genetics*
  • Lung Neoplasms / mortality
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Neoplasm Staging
  • Oncogene Proteins, Fusion / genetics*
  • Protein Kinase Inhibitors / therapeutic use
  • Pyrazoles / therapeutic use
  • Pyridines / therapeutic use
  • Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / genetics*
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Treatment Outcome

Substances

  • Cell-Free Nucleic Acids
  • DNA, Neoplasm
  • Oncogene Proteins, Fusion
  • Protein Kinase Inhibitors
  • Pyrazoles
  • Pyridines
  • Crizotinib
  • ALK protein, human
  • Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase
  • Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases