Abstract 4600: Biomarker analysis in circulating cell-free DNA in patients treated with sorafenib for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma

Purpose: We evaluated the potential role of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor-A (VEGFA) amplification and genome-wide copy number variations (CNVs) using circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) as predictors of treatment outcome in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients treated with first-line sorafenib. Methods: Among 184 patients from a prospective biomarker cohort, who had started sorafenib between April 2015 and May 2016, 151 eligible patients were included in the analysis. Plasma cfDNA was extracted from peripheral blood in patients before starting sorafenib or healthy donors. Plasma VEGFA-to-EIF2C1 ratios (the VEGFA ratios) were determined using droplet digital polymerase chain reaction. We applied low depth whole genome sequencing in cfDNA to find CNVs and developed I-score to express genomic instability, which was defined as the sum of absolute Z-scores of sequenced reads on each chromosome. Results: The cfDNA concentrations were significantly higher in HCC patients than in healthy controls (0.71 vs. 0.34 ng/μL; p Citation Format: Sook Ryun Park, Chung Ryul Oh, Sun-Young Kong, Min Kyeong Kim, Kyong-Ah Yoon, Eun-Hae Cho, Junnam Lee, Jihoon Kang, Baek-Yeol Ryoo. Biomarker analysis in circulating cell-free DNA in patients treated with sorafenib for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma [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 4600.