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. 2025 May;47(5):1411-1420.
doi: 10.1002/hed.28054. Epub 2024 Dec 27.

The Efficacy of Liquid Biopsy of Total cfDNA for Predicting Systemic Metastasis in Japanese Patients With Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Masahiro Uchibori  1 , Kazuyoshi Hosomichi  2 , Yasutaka Hoshimoto  1 , Masashi Sasaki  1 , Takayuki Aoki  1 , Atsushi Tajima  3 , Yoshihide Ota  1 , Minoru Kimura  4
Affiliations

The Efficacy of Liquid Biopsy of Total cfDNA for Predicting Systemic Metastasis in Japanese Patients With Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Masahiro Uchibori et al. Head Neck. 2025 May.

Abstract

Background: The use of liquid biopsy of total cell-free DNA (cfDNA) to identify otherwise undetectable cancers has attracted interest; however, its efficacy remains unknown. We explored whether analysis using total cfDNA is efficacious for Japanese patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC).

Methods: We collected total cfDNA from nine patients with OSCC preoperatively, 1 month postoperatively, and every 3 months thereafter to analyze this association. We used a target DNA sequence for genetic mutation analysis of tumor tissues collected from 33 patients, including the aforementioned nine patients.

Results: Patients with good disease control showed negligible changes in preoperative and postoperative total cfDNA concentrations. A rapid increase in total cfDNA concentration was observed in patients who developed systemic metastases. Patients whose tumor tissue DNA showed genetic mutations had the same mutations in preoperative circulating tumor DNA.

Conclusions: Our data suggested that analyzing total cfDNA is efficacious for patients with OSCC.

Keywords: head and neck cancer; liquid biopsy; oral squamous cell carcinoma; systemic metastasis; total cfDNA.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
TapeStation analysis results of three representative samples and one sample with genomic DNA contamination. DNA detected via both electropherogram and electrophoresis is marked with black arrows. High‐molecular‐weight DNA from the case with genomic DNA contamination is indicated with a blue arrow. [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Line graph of changes in total cfDNA concentration at each measurement point. [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Receive operator characteristics curve to evaluate the relationship between preoperative total cfDNA concentration and recurrence. [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Kaplan–Meier analysis of overall survival in patients with preoperative low or high total cfDNA levels preoperatively. [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
Kaplan–Meier analysis of progression‐free survival in patients with preoperative low or high total cfDNA levels preoperatively. [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
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