Abstract 939: Analytical validation of InVisionFirst™, a liquid biopsy assay for high-sensitivity broad molecular profiling of circulating tumor DNA using plasma samples of cancer patients
Authors: Woodhouse Samuel , Plagnol Vincent , Howarth Karen , Lensing Stefanie , Smith Matt , Epstein Michael , Madi Mikidache , Smalley Sarah , Leroy Catherine , Hinton Jonathan , Kievit Frank de , Musgrave-Brown Esther , Herd Colin , Baker-Neblett Katherine , Brennan Will , Dimitrov Peter , Campbell Nathan , Rosenfeld Nitzan , Clark James , Gale Davina , Platt Jamie , Calaway John , Jones Greg , Forshew Tim 
Published: August 2018

Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) analysis enables minimally invasive assessment of somatic genetic alterations for cancer patients. ctDNA analysis is quickly being incorporated into cancer care; notably in profiling patients' tumors to guide treatment decisions. Patients have demonstrated a response to targeted therapies even when the actionable mutations detected in their plasma DNA was at low variant allele fractions (VAFs) (&lt; 0.5%). Here we describe a detailed analytical validation study for InVisionFirst™, an NGS-based assay offering broad molecular profiling with exceptional sensitivity for analysis of ctDNA.

The InVisionFirst assay is based on enhanced tagged amplicon sequencing (eTAm-SeqTM) technology and profiles 36 genes commonly mutated in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and other cancer types for actionable genomic alterations. Analytical validation demonstrated the performance of this assay for detection of point mutations, indels, amplifications and gene fusions that commonly occur in NSCLC. Over 100 different contrived samples and 200 plasma samples were analyzed, representing a wide spectrum of genetic aberrations and variant allele frequency (VAF). Analysis was performed by multiple operators, at different times and using different reagent lots.

The InVisionFirst assay demonstrated an excellent sensitivity, with 99.48% sensitivity for SNVs present at VAF range 0.25%-0.33% and 92.46% sensitivity for indels at 0.25% VAF. DNA amplifications for ERBB2, FGFR1, MET and EGFR were also detected with high sensitivity and specificity. Greater than 50% of SNVs were detected down to a few molecules (0.06%-0.08% VAF), with the lower reportable range of 0.0125% for SNVs and indels. This high sensitivity was achieved while still retaining exceptional specificity (99.9997% per base). The assay also demonstrates, for the first time, detection of ALK and ROS1 gene fusions with an amplicon-based ctDNA technology. The novel methodology detected EML4-ALK and SLC34A2-ROS1 breakpoints at a VAF of 0.0625%. Comparison of VAFs between the InVisionFirst assay and ddPCR showed excellent concordance (R2 = 0.965).

This analytical validation study has evaluated the performance characteristics of the InVisionFirst assay across a range of genomic alterations, establishing it as a highly sensitive and specific assay that meets the analytical requirements for clinical applications. The InVisionFirst assay can be deployed as a liquid biopsy NGS assay for broad molecular profiling of plasma to aid in the management of cancer patients.

Citation Format: Samuel Woodhouse, Vincent Plagnol, Karen Howarth, Stefanie Lensing, Matt Smith, Michael Epstein, Mikidache Madi, Sarah Smalley, Catherine Leroy, Jonathan Hinton, Frank de Kievit, Esther Musgrave-Brown, Colin Herd, Katherine Baker-Neblett, Will Brennan, Peter Dimitrov, Nathan Campbell, Nitzan Rosenfeld, James Clark, Davina Gale, Jamie Platt, John Calaway, Greg Jones, Tim Forshew. Analytical validation of InVisionFirst™, a liquid biopsy assay for high-sensitivity broad molecular profiling of circulating tumor DNA using plasma samples of cancer patients [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 939.