Tracking CFDNA levels can help better evaluate the effectiveness of colon cancer for surgery

Tracking CFDNA levels can help better evaluate the effectiveness of colon cancer for surgery

A new research paper was published inOncotarget'sVolume 16 on January 21, 2025 entitled “Assessment of CFDNA release dynamics during colorectal cancer surgery”.

Researchers from the University of Brasília studied how cell-free DNA (CFDNA) changes in blood before, during and after colon cancer surgery. The study found that CFDNA levels increase significantly during and after surgery. The results suggest that CFDNA could help doctors evaluate the effectiveness of surgery and monitor patient outcomes.

CFDNA is made up of small fragments of DNA that are released into the bloodstream when cells die and break apart. In healthy individuals, CFDNA usually comes from normal cell turnover, while in cancer patients some of it comes from tumor cells. Measuring CFDNA levels provides valuable insight into a patient's condition and is already used to track disease progression and treatment response in cancers such as lung, breast and colorectal cancer.

Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide and affects millions of people every year. Surgery is often the primary treatment, but up to 50% of patients subsequently experience cancer recurrence. In this study, the research team led by first author Mailson Alves Lopes and corresponding author Fabio Pittella-Silva analyzed blood samples from 30 patients at three key time points: before, during and after surgery.

CFDNA levels were found to increase nearly threefold during surgery and doubled after surgery compared to pre-surgery levels. The increases were even higher in people over 60, people with pre-existing medical conditions such as diabetes or heart disease, and patients with elevated carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), a common cancer marker. Patients with the highest levels of CFDNA were those with larger or more aggressive tumors, likely due to greater tissue damage during surgery. Additionally, longer surgeries were associated with higher CFDNA levels.

“[…]We observed that CFDNA concentration can increase in correlation with the duration of surgery, highlighting its potential as a marker of surgical quality.”

These results suggest that CFDNA could be a valuable, non-invasive biomarker for clinicians to monitor colorectal cancer patients. Tracking CFDNA levels can help better evaluate surgical outcomes and determine whether patients need more detailed follow-up.

While these results are promising, further research is needed to standardize CFDNA testing and validate its usefulness. Larger studies could help develop CFDNA testing as a reliable tool for cancer treatment and postoperative monitoring, with the potential to become a routine part of clinical practice in the future.

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