Preliminary results correlating post-operative ctDNA status with disease-free survival in patients with stage II (high risk)/III colorectal cancer in the BNT000-001 epidemiology study.
Authors: Reinacher-Schick Anke C. , Reboredo Lopez Margarita , Alonso-Orduña Vicente , Páez Lopez-Bravo David , Vergauwe Philippe , Tannapfel Andrea , Bortolini Silveira Amanda , Schlombs Kornelia , Young Philip , He Ying , Henn Hilja , Manning Luisa , Preußner Liane , Mueller Felicitas , Sahin Ugur , Türeci Özlem 
Published: June 2024

3526

Background: Despite standard-of-care surgical resection and adjuvant chemotherapy (ACT), disease recurrence in patients (pts) with stage II or III colorectal cancer (CRC) remains high. Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) analysis post-surgery with curative intent may help to identify pts with minimal residual disease at risk for recurrence. We report preliminary results of the BNT000-001 study exploring the prevalence and prognostic value of ctDNA positivity post-surgery in pts with stage II (high-risk) / III CRC. Methods: The BNT000-001 (NCT04813627) epidemiological study is enrolling pts in US, Germany (including screening through the Colopredict registry study), Spain, and Belgium with resected high-risk (per NCCN guidelines) stage II / III CRC for longitudinal follow up of their ctDNA status post-surgery and ACT. The primary objective of the study is to estimate the prevalence of ctDNA positivity after surgery. Other objectives include evaluation of the prognostic value of ctDNA and identification of ctDNA positive pts who might be candidates for the interventional clinical trial BNT122-01 (NCT04486378). Disease-free survival (DFS) was measured from the post-surgery visit to disease recurrence/death and analyzed for all eligible pts who remain on study. ctDNA was analyzed using the laboratory developed AVENIO Oncology Assays (AOA) Surveillance test and reported as detected (“positive”), not detected (“negative”), or no result (“non-evaluable”). Results: 1094 pts have been screened, of which 874 pts were analyzed for post-surgery ctDNA status (data cutoff 15 Dec 2023). 142 pts were non-evaluable, resulting in 732 pts with defined ctDNA status. Prevalence of post-operative ctDNA positivity was 12.3% (90*/732). 87.7% (642/732) of pts were ctDNA negative. 826 pts were followed for the prognostic value of post-surgery ctDNA-positivity, excluding 48 ctDNA positive pts who transferred to the BNT122-01 treatment study. At a median follow-up time of 25.9 months, the median DFS of ctDNA positive pts was 12.16 months vs. median DFS not reached for ctDNA negative pts. The 12-month DFS rate was 55% for ctDNA positive vs. 92% for ctDNA negative pts. Of note, our analyses support the identification of ctDNA negative T4N2 pts as a high-risk group for recurrence. Post-surgery ctDNA positivity was associated with significantly increased risk for disease recurrence or death, with a hazard ratio of 10.2. Conclusions: This study supports existing evidence of the prognostic value of post-operative ctDNA in CRC pts. In ctDNA positive pts, the 12-month DFS rate was almost halved (55% vs. 92% in ctDNA negative). Clinical trial information: NCT04813627 . [Table: see text]