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Whole Genome Sequencing of Locally Advanced Esophageal Cancer

We assembled a cohort of 36 patients with locally advanced esophageal cancer undergoing curative-intent therapy. Two ultrasensitive, tumor-informed, mutation enrichment sequencing tests were applied to serially collected blood samples to detect circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), MAESTRO-Pool of the Broad Institute and the Oncodetect V2 assay (based on MAESTRO) of Exact Sciences. Both assays showed highly concordant results, with the Oncodetect V2 assay showing better sensitivity while maintaining high specificity. We found ctDNA detection postoperatively was strongly associated with disease recurrence and that most ctDNA-positive samples had variant allele fractions below 100 parts-per-million, the limit of detection of first-generation assays. Here we provide whole genome sequencing of matched tumor tissue and normal germline DNA from these 36 patients that were used to design individualized assays for MAESTRO-Pool and the Oncodetect V2 assay.