Monitoring Clinical Outcomes in Patients With Cancer Using Non-Invasive Liquid Biopsy Approaches


Momentum Fellow (2018-2020)

Alessandro Leal, MD, Johns Hopkins University

Alessandro Leal, MD

Dr. Leal is identifying biomarker patterns in the tumor DNA shed into the bloodstream from patients with advanced stage cancers to improve clinical disease monitoring strategies.

PUBLISHED RESEARCH

van ‘t Erve I, Alipanahi B, Lumbard K, Skidmore ZL, Rinaldi L, Millberg LK, Carey J, Chesnick B, Cristiano S, Portwood C, Wu T, Peters E, Bolhuis K, Punt CJA, Tom J, Bach PB, Dracopoli NC, Meijer GA, Scharpf RB, Velculescu VE, Fijneman RJA, Leal A. Cancer treatment monitoring using cell-free DNA fragmentomes. Nat Commun. 2024.

van ‘t Erve I, Medina JE, Leal A, Papp E, Phallen J, Adleff V, Chiao EJ, Arun AS, Bolhuis K, Simmons JK, Karandikar A, Valkenburg KC, Sausen M, Angiuoli SV, Scharpf RB, Punt CJA, Meijer GA, Velculescu VE, Fijneman RJA. Metastatic colorectal cancer treatment response evaluation by ultra-deep sequencing of cell-free DNA and matched white blood cells. Clin Cancer Res. 2022.

van ‘t Erve I, Wesdorp NJ, Medina JE, Ferreira L, Leal A, Huiskens J, Bolhuis K, van Waesberghe JTM, Swijnenburg RJ, van den Broek D, Velculescu VE, Kazemier G, Punt CJA, Meijer GA, Fijneman RJA. KRAS A146 Mutations Are Associated With Distinct Clinical Behavior in Patients With Colorectal Liver Metastases. JCO Precis Oncol. 2021.

Mathios D, Johansen JS, Cristiano S, Medina JE, Phallen J, Larsen KR, Bruhm DC, Niknafs N, Ferreira L, Adleff V, Chiao JY, Leal A, Noe M, White JR, Arun AS, Hruban C, Annapragada AV, Jensen SØ, Ørntoft MW, Madsen AH, Carvalho B, de Wit M, Carey J, Dracopoli NC, Maddala T, Fang KC, Hartman AR, Forde PM , Anagnostou V, Brahmer JR, Fijneman RJA, Nielsen HJ, Meijer GA, Andersen CL, Mellemgaard A, Bojesen SE, Scharpf RB, Velculescu VE. Detection and Characterization of Lung Cancer Using Cell-Free DNA Fragmentomes. Nat Commun. 2021.

van ‘t Erve I, Greuter MJE, Bolhuis K, Vessies DCL, Leal A, Vink GR, van den Broek D, Velculescu VE, Punt CJA, Meijer GA, Coupé VMH, Fijneman RJA. Diagnostic Strategies toward Clinical Implementation of Liquid Biopsy RAS/BRAF Circulating Tumor DNA Analyses in Patients with Metastatic Colorectal Cancer. J Mol Diagn. 2020.

Leal A, van Grieken NCT, Palsgrove DN, Phallen J, Medina JE, Hruban C, Broeckaert MAM, Anagnostou V, Adleff V, Bruhm DC, Canzoniero JV, Fiksel J, Nordsmark M, Warmerdam FARM, Verheul HMW, van Spronsen DJ, Beerepoot LV, Geenen MM, Portielje JEA, Jansen EPM, van Sandick J, Meershoek-Klein Kranenbarg E, van Laarhoven HWM, van der Peet DL, van de Velde CJH, Verheij M, Fijneman R, Scharpf RB, Meijer GA, Cats A, Velculescu VE. White blood cell and cell-free DNA analyses for detection of residual disease in gastric cancer. Nat Commun. 2020.

Serrano C, Leal A, Kuang Y, Morgan JA, Barysauskas CM, Phallen J, Triplett O, Mariño-Enríquez A, Wagner AJ, Demetri GD, Velculescu VE, Paweletz CP, Fletcher JA, George S. Phase I Study of Rapid Alternation of Sunitinib and Regorafenib for the Treatment of Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor Refractory Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors. Clin Cancer Res. 2019.

Anagnostou V, Forde PM, White JR, Niknafs N, Hruban C, Naidoo J, Marrone K, Sivakumar IKA, Bruhm DC, Rosner S, Phallen J, Leal A, Adleff V, Smith KN, Cottrell TR, Rhymee L, Palsgrove DN, Hann CL, Levy B, Feliciano J, Georgiades C, Verde F, Illei P, Li QK, Gabrielson E, Brock MV, Isbell JM, Sauter JL, Taube J, Scharpf RB, Karchin R, Pardoll DM, Chaft JE, Hellmann MD, Brahmer JR, Velculescu VE. Dynamics of Tumor and Immune Responses during Immune Checkpoint Blockade in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer. Cancer Res. 2019.

Phallen J, Leal A, Woodward BD, Forde PM, Naidoo J, Marrone KA, Brahmer JR, Fiksel J, Medina JE, Cristiano S, Palsgrove DN, Gocke CD, Bruhm DC, Keshavarzian P, Adleff V, Weihe E, Anagnostou V, Scharpf RB, Velculescu VE, Husain H. Early Noninvasive Detection of Response to Targeted Therapy in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer. Cancer Res. 2019.

Cristiano S, Leal A, Phallen J, Fiksel J, Adleff V, Bruhm DC, Jensen SØ, Medina JE, Hruban C, White JR, Palsgrove DN, Niknafs N, Anagnostou V, Forde P, Naidoo J, Marrone K, Brahmer J, Woodward BD, Husain H, van Rooijen KL, Ørntoft MW, Madsen AH, van de Velde CJH, Verheij M, Cats A, Punt CJA, Vink GR, van Grieken NCT, Koopman M, Fijneman RJA, Johansen JS, Nielsen HJ, Meijer GA, Andersen CL, Scharpf RB, Velculescu VE. Genome-wide cell-free DNA fragmentation in patients with cancer. Nature. 2019.

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