Circulating Tumor DNA in Melanoma - From Primary Diagnosis to Recurrence Detection
PhD defence by Magnus Petur Bjarnason Obinah
Assessment Committee
Professor Peter Viktor Vester-Glowinski, Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Copenhagen (Chairperson)
Professor Claus Lindbjerg Andersen, Department of Clinical Medicine
Professor Susana Puig, Dermatology Department, Hospital Clínic, Barcelona AND University of Barcelona
Supervisors
Clinical Professor Lisbet Rosenkrantz Hølmich
Clinical Professor Stig Egil Bojesen
Clinical Professor Christoffer Johansen
Professor Thomas Wojciech Zygmunt Litman
Department
Department of Clinical Medicine
Graduate Programme
Clinical Cancer Research
Place
The defence is conducted as a hybrid defence.
To attend the defence in person:
Building: Hovedbygning, Room: Store Auditorium,
Borgmester Ib Juuls Vej 1, 2730 Herlev
To attend the defence online:
Please follow the link to attend the defence online:
https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/3102656360530885?p=ZQqXx0wmkxdestgTt9
MeetingID, if relevant: 310 265 636 053 088 5
Password, if relevant: yT2y35v5
Email address to gain access to the thesis: magnus.petur.bjarnason.obinah.02@regionh.dk.
You will either receive a copy of the thesis or be informed where you can read a physical copy.
Recipients of copies of the thesis are not allowed to share or distribute it due to copyright compliance.
Short description of the thesis
Melanoma is the deadliest skin cancer. Patients with high-risk disease are followed for years with scans to catch recurrence early. Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is DNA fragments shed by a tumor, detectable in a blood sample. This thesis examined whether ctDNA detection, using tests routinely available in hospital laboratories, can be used for melanoma staging before primary surgery and for detection of recurrence. In three prospective studies at Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, ctDNA was detected in about two in five patients close to the time of recurrence, depending on the mutation and the method used, but in none of the examined patients before surgery. Our results indicate where today's ctDNA detection methods can be applied as is, where they fail, and where more sensitive assays must be applied.