TP53-Mutated Circulating Tumor DNA for Disease Monitoring in Lymphoma Patients after CAR T Cell Therapy

Chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR T) cell immunotherapy has shown remarkable efficacy in non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) patients. Minimal residual disease (MRD) monitoring in NHL is essential after CAR T cell therapy, which can be achieved by monitoring circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA). The mutation of TP53 in NHL has been suggested to be associated with a poor prognosis. However, whether TP53-mutated ctDNA can be used as a biomarker remains undetermined. In this study, a total of 40 patients with mutated TP53 who received CAR T cell treatment were analyzed, and specific probes targeting 29 different TP53 mutation sites in the 40 patients were designed and verified. Then, the presence of TP53-mutated ctDNA in longitudinal plasma samples was tracked by droplet digital PCR. Patients were stratified into two groups, favorable or unfavorable, based on their highest ctDNA level using a MAF cutoff of 3.15% according to the ROC curve. The unfavorable group had significantly worse PFS than the favorable group (p < 0.001). Our results suggest that patients with mutated TP53 with a favorable ctDNA profile in the first trimester have better prognostic outcomes than patients with an unfavorable profile, and ctDNA can be a reliable predictor of the subsequent clinical outcome.