Multimodal plasma and urinary cell-free DNA profiling improves risk stratification in newly diagnosed prostate cancer - PubMed
4 hours ago
- #liquid biopsy
- #risk stratification
- #prostate cancer
- Multimodal plasma and urinary cell-free DNA profiling improves risk stratification in newly diagnosed prostate cancer.
- Prostate cancer (PCa) is heterogeneous, making early detection and risk stratification challenging.
- Liquid biopsies (LBx) enable minimally invasive tumor profiling, but detecting circulating tumor-derived DNA (ctDNA) is difficult, especially in early-stage PCa.
- A multimodal LBx approach combining genomic and epigenomic cfDNA features in plasma and urine was developed for better early characterization and risk stratification.
- Plasma and urine samples from 55 localized PCa (lPCa) patients, 18 advanced PCa (aPCa) patients, and 36 cancer-free controls were analyzed using low-coverage whole-genome sequencing and methylated DNA immunoprecipitation sequencing.
- The approach achieved a 45% ctDNA detection rate in newly diagnosed PCa, with major differences observed between aPCa and controls.
- Epigenomic cfDNA features differentiated lPCa from aPCa, and ctDNA was detected in 46% of PCa patients with prostate-specific antigen <10 ng/mL.
- The study highlights the value of multimodal LBx for early characterization and identification of aggressive disease at initial diagnosis.
- Integration into clinical workflows could complement diagnostics and support personalized decision-making based on patients' PCa risk profiles.