Clinical impact of prospective circulating tumour DNA testing for minimal residual disease in colorectal cancer: the INTERCEPT programme experience.

Prospective ctDNA testing predicts recurrence in stage II-IV colorectal cancer with 79.9% sensitivity, enabling earlier interventions during surveillance.

• Why it matters: Understanding the prognostic value of circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) after treatment can improve risk stratification and guide clinical decisions, especially in stage IV patients where its impact is debated.
• What they did: The INTERCEPT study prospectively monitored stage II-IV colorectal cancer patients using tissue-informed ctDNA assays, assessing recurrence risk, lead times, and the effect of multitimepoint testing on sensitivity.
• The result: Findings confirm ctDNA’s prognostic value beyond 12 months post-surgery, with higher recurrence in MRD-positive stage II-III patients, and demonstrate that multitimepoint testing improves recurrence detection, potentially enabling earlier, curative interventions.