Short Diagnosis-to-Treatment Interval Is Associated With Higher Circulating Tumor DNA Levels in Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma

PURPOSE Patients with Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) in need of immediate therapy are largely underrepresented in clinical trials. The diagnosis-to-treatment interval (DTI) has recently been described as a metric to quantify such patient selection bias, with short DTI being associated with adverse risk factors and inferior outcomes. Here, we characterized the relationships between DTI, circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), conventional risk factors, and clinical outcomes, with the goal of defining objective disease metrics contributing to selection bias. PATIENTS AND METHODS We evaluated pretreatment ctDNA levels in 267 patients with DLBCL treated across multiple centers in Europe and the United States using Cancer Personalized Profiling by Deep Sequencing. Pretreatment ctDNA levels were correlated with DTI, total metabolic tumor volumes (TMTVs), the International Prognostic Index (IPI), and outcome. RESULTS Short DTI was associated with advanced-stage disease (P< .001) and higher IPI (P< .001). We also found an inverse correlation between DTI and TMTV (R_S = 20.37; P< .001). Similarly, pretreatment ctDNA levels were significantly associated with stage, IPI, and TMTV (all P< .001), demonstrating that both DTI and ctDNA reflect disease burden. Notably, patients with shorter DTI had higher pretreatment ctDNA levels (P< .001). Pretreatment ctDNA levels predicted short DTI independent of the IPI (P< .001). Although each risk factor was significantly associated with event-free survival in univariable analysis, ctDNA level was prognostic of event-free survival independent of DTI and IPI in multivariable Cox regression (ctDNA: hazard ratio, 1.5; 95% CI [1.2 to 2.0]; IPI: 1.1 [0.9 to 1.3]; -DTI: 1.1 [1.0 to 1.2]). CONCLUSION Short DTI largely reflects baseline tumor burden, which can be objectively measured using pretreatment ctDNA levels. Pretreatment ctDNA levels therefore have utility for quantifying and guarding against selection biases in prospective DLBCL clinical trials.