Clinical Utility of Cerebrospinal Fluid Cell-Free DNA as Liquid Biopsy for Leptomeningeal Metastases in ALK-Rearranged NSCLC

Introduction: Leptomeningeal metastases (LMs) indicated a poor prognosis in NSCLC. LMs were more frequent in driver gene–mutated patients, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cell-free DNA has shown unique genetic profiles of LM in EGFR-mutated LM. However, studies in patients with ALK receptor tyrosine kinase gene (ALK)-rearranged NSCLC with LMs are scarce. Conclusion: Liquid biopsy of CSF is more sensitive than liquid biopsy of plasma to detect targetable alterations, characterizing resistance mechanisms on progression and monitoring tumor response in patients with ALK-rearranged NSCLC with LM. Thus, CSF might be promising as a medium of liquid biopsy in LM. READ ARTICLE

Journal of Thoracic Oncology
DOI:10.1016/j.jtho.2019.01.007

Authors: Mei-Mei Zheng, Yang-Si Li, Ben-Yuan Jiang, Hai-Yan Tu, Wen-Fang Tang, Jin-Ji Yang, Xu-Chao Zhang, Jun-Yi Ye, Hong-Hong Yan, Jian Su, Qing Zhou, Wen-Zhao Zhong, Xue-Ning Yang, Wei-Bang Guo, Shannon Chuai, Zhou Zhang, Hua-Jun Chen, Zhen Wang, Chao Liu, Yi-Long Wu