Molecular Residual Disease

This study aims to evaluate whether plasma molecular residual disease (MRD), assessed using circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), can help optimize the duration of immunotherapy in patients with metastatic microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) or mismatch repair-deficient (dMMR) colorectal cancer. Patients with MSI-H/dMMR metastatic colorectal cancer can achieve durable responses to immune checkpoint inhibitors, but the optimal duration of treatment remains uncertain. Prolonged immunotherapy may increase treatment burden and the risk of immune-related adverse events. ctDNA-based MRD testing may provide a sensitive method for detecting residual tumor burden and identifying patients who may be able to safely stop treatment. In this study, patients receiving immunotherapy will undergo serial plasma MRD testing. After completing 1 year of immunotherapy, patients with two consecutive negative MRD results will be randomly assigned to either continue immunotherapy or stop treatment and enter observation. Patients will then be followed every 3 months for 2 years with MRD testing and routine clinical assessments, including imaging and laboratory examinations. The study will compare clinical outcomes between the two groups and evaluate whether serial plasma MRD monitoring can support a more individualized approach to the duration of immunotherapy in MSI-H/dMMR metastatic colorectal cancer.

UNIFY is a Yale-wide liquid biopsy master repository that prospectively collects Streck-tube blood, dried blood spots (and optional archival tissue) from Yale Cancer Center patients across all tumor types for current and future research.