ArticleMolecular biomedicine2025
Circulating tumor DNA as a marker of molecular residual disease in resected esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.
Article in Molecular biomedicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Beyond SANO: the future of active surveillance for oesophageal cancer.The British journal of surgery · 2026Article
- Circulating Tumor DNA for Minimal Residual Disease Detection and Recurrence Prediction in Upper Gastrointestinal Cancers: A Scoping Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
- Narrative review: clinical application and challenges of circulating tumor DNA in treatment response evaluation and prognostic prediction for esophageal cancer.Journal of thoracic disease · 2026Review
- Immune biomarkers for head and neck cancer.Cancer immunology, immunotherapy : CII · 2025Review
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Authors and funding
12 authors.
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Abstract
Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) remains a major contributor to cancer-related mortality, with molecular residual disease (MRD) detection posing a significant challenge in post-surgical management. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in detecting MRD in patients with resectable ESCC undergoing radical surgery. A total of 62 primary tumor tissues, 108 preoperative, and 125 postoperative plasma samples were collected from 125 such ESCC patients who underwent radical surgery, and subjected to sequencing. Next-Generation Sequencing and ultra-high sensitivity Automated Triple Groom Sequencing panels were used to sequence genomic DNA from tumor tissues and ctDNA from plasma, respectively. ctDNA positive mutations included tumor-informed mutations and tumor-naïve mutations. Key findings revealed a high concordance rate of mutation detection between primary tumor tissue and preoperative plasma samples (91.11%, p = 0.62). Critically, the recurrence rate was higher in postoperative ctDNA-positive ESCCs than that in negative ones (66.67% (40/60) vs. 21.54% (14/65), p < 0.001). And postoperative ctDNA-positivity was associated with poorer disease-free survival (DFS) (hazard ratio (HR): 4.58, 95% CI: 2.65-7.92, p < 0.001) and overall survival (OS) (HR: 5.39, 95% CI: 2.96-9.80, p < 0.001). Similar prognostic patterns were observed in patients with preoperative ctDNA-positivity (p = 0.014; p = 0.016; p = 0.071) and ctDNA-nonclearance (p < 0.001; p < 0.001; p < 0.001). Furthermore, in combination with postoperative ctDNA status, the Tumor-Node-Metastasis-Blood (TNMB) staging system was able to better distinguish patients with different prognoses compared with traditional TNM (p < 0.001). In conclusion, postoperative ctDNA-positivity emerges as a promising biomarker for detecting MRD in ESCC patients following surgical resection.
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