{"entity":{"id":"paper-tie-ctdna-stage-ii-colon-sci-transl-med-2016","kind":"paper","name":"Circulating tumor DNA analysis detects minimal residual disease and predicts recurrence in patients with stage II colon cancer","aka":[],"tldr":"In 230 people whose stage II colon cancer had been removed, finding a trace of tumour DNA in the blood afterwards meant a four in five chance of the cancer coming back, against one in ten if the blood was clear.","summary":"Massively parallel sequencing assays were used to evaluate the ability of circulating tumour DNA to detect minimal residual disease in 1,046 plasma samples from a prospective cohort of 230 patients with resected stage II colon cancer. In patients not treated with adjuvant chemotherapy, ctDNA was detected postoperatively in 14 of 178 (7.9%), and 11 of those 14 (79%) had recurred at a median follow-up of 27 months; recurrence occurred in only 16 of 164 (9.8%) with negative ctDNA, giving a hazard ratio of 18. In patients treated with chemotherapy, the presence of ctDNA after completion of chemotherapy was also associated with inferior recurrence-free survival (hazard ratio 11).","asOf":"2026-09-24","links":[{"label":"Tie et al., Sci Transl Med 2016: ctDNA detects minimal residual disease after stage II colon cancer resection (230 patients)","url":"https://doi.org/10.1126/scitranslmed.aaf6219"},{"label":"PubMed","url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27384348/"}],"tags":[],"related":["ctdna-mrd-positive"],"cancers":["colorectal"],"sections":[],"technologies":["mrd-testing","liquid-biopsy"],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":["peter-mac","johns-hopkins"],"pathways":[],"terms":["mrd","ctdna","cfdna","tumour-informed-assay"],"trials":["dynamic"],"people":["jeanne-tie","bert-vogelstein","kenneth-kinzler"],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":["science-translational-medicine"],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"journal":"Science Translational Medicine","year":2016,"doi":"10.1126/scitranslmed.aaf6219","pmid":"27384348","authors":"Tie J, Wang Y, Tomasetti C, et al.","paperType":"observational","findings":["Postoperative ctDNA in 14 of 178 untreated patients (7.9%); 11 of 14 (79%) recurred.","Recurrence in 16 of 164 ctDNA-negative patients (9.8%); hazard ratio 18.","Post-chemotherapy ctDNA also predicted recurrence (hazard ratio 11)."],"whatItMeans":"It is the founding observation of tumour-informed residual disease testing in solid tumours, and it led directly to DYNAMIC, the randomised trial that made the test change treatment.","caveats":["Observational; the 9.8% recurrence among ctDNA-negative patients is the false-negative problem.","A bespoke Safe-SeqS assay on tumour-specific mutations rather than a commercial test.","Stage II colon cancer only."],"changedPractice":false,"participants":230},"route":"/key-papers/paper-tie-ctdna-stage-ii-colon-sci-transl-med-2016/","neighbours":{"biomarker":[{"id":"ctdna-mrd-positive","kind":"biomarker","name":"ctDNA MRD positivity (molecular residual disease after curative treatment)","route":"/biomarkers/ctdna-mrd-positive/"}],"cancer":[{"id":"colorectal","kind":"cancer","name":"Colorectal cancer","route":"/cancers/colorectal/"}],"technology":[{"id":"liquid-biopsy","kind":"technology","name":"Liquid biopsy (ctDNA)","route":"/technologies/liquid-biopsy/"},{"id":"mrd-testing","kind":"technology","name":"MRD / molecular residual disease testing","route":"/technologies/mrd-testing/"}],"institution":[{"id":"johns-hopkins","kind":"institution","name":"Johns Hopkins Hospital / Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center","route":"/institutions/johns-hopkins/"},{"id":"peter-mac","kind":"institution","name":"Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre","route":"/institutions/peter-mac/"}],"term":[{"id":"cfdna","kind":"term","name":"Cell-free DNA (cfDNA)","route":"/terms/cfdna/"},{"id":"ctdna","kind":"term","name":"Circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA)","route":"/terms/ctdna/"},{"id":"mrd","kind":"term","name":"Minimal / molecular residual disease (MRD)","route":"/terms/mrd/"},{"id":"tumour-informed-assay","kind":"term","name":"Tumour-informed versus tumour-naive ctDNA assays","route":"/terms/tumour-informed-assay/"}],"trial":[{"id":"dynamic","kind":"trial","name":"DYNAMIC","route":"/trials/dynamic/"}],"person":[{"id":"bert-vogelstein","kind":"person","name":"Bert Vogelstein","route":"/people/bert-vogelstein/"},{"id":"jeanne-tie","kind":"person","name":"Jeanne Tie","route":"/people/jeanne-tie/"},{"id":"kenneth-kinzler","kind":"person","name":"Kenneth W. Kinzler","route":"/people/kenneth-kinzler/"}],"journal":[{"id":"science-translational-medicine","kind":"journal","name":"Science Translational Medicine","route":"/journals/science-translational-medicine/"}]}}