Cell-Free DNA Genomic Profiling and Its Clinical Implementation in Advanced Prostate Cancer.

Most men with prostate cancer (PCa), despite potentially curable localized disease at initial diagnosis, progress to metastatic disease. Despite numerous treatment options, choosing the optimal treatment for individual patients remains challenging. Biomarkers guiding treatment sequences in an advanced setting are lacking. To estimate the diagnostic potential of liquid biopsies in guiding personalized treatment of PCa, we evaluated the utility of a custom-targeted next-generation sequencing (NGS) panel based on the AmpliSeq HD Technology. Ultra-deep sequencing on plasma circulating free DNA (cfDNA) samples of 40 metastatic castration-resistant PCa (mCRPC) and 28 metastatic hormone-naive PCa (mCSPC) was performed. CfDNA somatic mutations were detected in 48/68 (71%) patients. Of those 68 patients, 42 had matched tumor and cfDNA samples. In 21/42 (50%) patients, mutations from the primary tumor tissue were detected in the plasma cfDNA. In 7/42 (17%) patients, mutations found in the primary tumor were not detected in the cfDNA. Mutations from primary tumors were detected in all tested mCRPC patients (17/17), but only in 4/11 with mCSPC. AR amplifications were detected in 12/39 (31%) mCRPC patients. These results indicate that our targeted NGS approach has high sensitivity and specificity for detecting clinically relevant mutations in PCa

IN DEFENSE OF DATA: INFORMATION AND THE COSTS OF PRIVACY

The commercial use of information on the Internet has produced substantial benefits for consumers. 1 But, as the use of information online has increased, so have concerns about privacy. This paper discusses how the use of individuals ‘ information for commercial purposes affects consumers, and the implications of restricting information availability in the interest of privacy. We make the following points: Targeted advertising gives consumers useful information. The online advertising industry uses customer information to target advertising messages to consumers ‘ specific interests. Such targeting reduces the cost to producers of communicating with consumers and the cost to consumers of obtaining useful information. Internet advertising often introduces consumers to products they were unaware of and therefore unable to seek out on their own. If information about consumers becomes less available and more expensive, sellers rely more on sending messages to poorly targeted sets of consumers. As this occurs, consumers receive more irrelevant messages and find it more difficult to obtain useful information. Advertising revenues support new services on the Internet. New business models based o