Circulating Tumor DNA in Colorectal Cancer: Insights From the SWOG 80702 and BESPOKE Studies
John Marshall, MD, and Mark Lewis, MD, discuss how circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) testing in colorectal cancer offers promising clinical utility across the care continuum, from early detection to treatment monitoring, with trials like BESPOKE and SWOG 80702 demonstrating its potential to guide personalized therapy decisions, predict outcomes based on minimal residual disease status, complement traditional imaging in challenging cases, and transform patient care through a patient-centric approach that requires ongoing research to establish standardized protocols.
EP. 3: Overview of BESPOKE Patient Characteristics
April 7th 2025Panelists discuss how the BESPOKE trial enrolled a diverse cohort of patients with varying demographic profiles, disease stages, comorbidities, and treatment histories to ensure comprehensive representation for personalized medicine approaches.
EP. 4: BESPOKE: Highlighting the Disease-Free Survival by ctDNA Status
April 7th 2025Panelists discuss how BESPOKE trial results demonstrate significantly improved disease-free survival rates in patients with negative circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) status compared with those with detectable ctDNA, underscoring its potential as a powerful prognostic biomarker.
EP. 5: BESPOKE: ctDNA Clearance During and After ACT
April 14th 2025Panelists discuss how circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) clearance rates during and after adjuvant chemotherapy (ACT) in the BESPOKE trial provide critical insights into treatment efficacy and may serve as an early predictor of long-term patient outcomes.
EP. 6: Role of MRD Status in Treatment Intensification or De-Escalation of Adjuvant Therapy
April 14th 2025Panelists discuss how minimal residual disease (MRD) status, as detected through circulating tumor DNA analysis, can guide personalized treatment decisions by identifying patients who may benefit from intensification of adjuvant therapy and those who could safely undergo de-escalation of treatment regimens.
EP. 7: SWOG 80702: Overview of Study Design, Efficacy End Points, and Patient Characteristics
April 21st 2025Panelists discuss how SWOG 80702, a large-scale randomized clinical trial, employed a robust factorial design with clearly defined efficacy end points, including disease-free and overall survival, while enrolling a diverse patient population with stage III colon cancer to evaluate optimal adjuvant therapy duration and the impact of celecoxib.
EP. 8: SWOG 80702: Impressions on the Efficacy Data
April 21st 2025Panelists discuss how the efficacy data from SWOG 80702 demonstrated that shortened duration of adjuvant chemotherapy (3 months vs 6 months) yielded comparable survival outcomes while significantly reducing treatment-related toxicities, challenging previous standard-of-care approaches for patients with stage III colon cancer.
