In:
British Journal of Cancer, Springer Science and Business Media LLC, Vol. 128, No. 11 ( 2023-06-15), p. 2097-2103
Abstract:
HPV-related cervical cancer (CC) is the fourth most frequent cancer in women worldwide. Cell-free tumour DNA is a potent biomarker to detect treatment response, residual disease, and relapse. We investigated the potential use of cell-free circulating HPV-DNA (cfHPV-DNA) in plasma of patients with CC. Methods cfHPV-DNA levels were measured using a highly sensitive next-generation sequencing-based approach targeting a panel of 13 high-risk HPV types. Results Sequencing was performed in 69 blood samples collected from 35 patients, of which 26 were treatment-naive when the first liquid biopsy sample was retrieved. cfHPV-DNA was successfully detected in 22/26 (85%) cases. A significant correlation between tumour burden and cfHPV-DNA levels was observed: cfHPV-DNA was detectable in all treatment-naive patients with advanced-stage disease (17/17, FIGO IB3–IVB) and in 5/9 patients with early-stage disease (FIGO IA–IB2). Sequential samples revealed a decrease of cfHPV-DNA levels in 7 patients corresponding treatment response and an increase in a patient with relapse. Conclusions In this proof-of-concept study we demonstrated the potential of cfHPV-DNA as a biomarker for therapy monitoring in patients with primary and recurrent CC. Our findings facilitate the development of a sensitive and precise, non-invasive, inexpensive, and easily accessible tool in CC diagnosis, therapy monitoring and follow-up.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
0007-0920
,
1532-1827
DOI:
10.1038/s41416-023-02233-x
Language:
English
Publisher:
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Publication Date:
2023
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2002452-6
detail.hit.zdb_id:
80075-2
Permalink