Use of circulating tumour DNA to prospectively guide a switch from targeted to immune therapy in BRAF mutant advanced melanoma: the randomised phase II CAcTUS trial
- Rebecca J. Lee
- Dominic G. Rothwell
- Nigel Smith
- Shien Chow
- Juan Delgado-SanMartin
- Hitesh Mistry
- Yvonne Sylvestre
- Shih-Chieh Chiang
- Harry Clarke
- Gabriela Gremel
- Avinash Gupta
- Kimberley Hockenhull
- Noel Kelso
- Rohit Kochhar
- Damian Mullan
- Ruth Plummer
- Patricio Serra
- Heather Shaw
- Holly Summersgill
- Samra Turajlic
- Florent Mouliere
- Richard Marais
- Caroline Dive
- Paul Lorigan
2026-05-21
Checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy (CPI) for BRAF mutant advanced melanoma first-line results in a better long-term survival compared to targeted therapy (TT), however TT induction may benefit poor prognosis groups. The parallel-arm, randomised phase II, multicentre, feasibility CAcTUS trial (Clinicaltrials.gov NCT03808441) randomised 21 patients to receive standard of care investigators choice TT or CPI, switching to the alternative upon progression ( n = 10), or commencing TT and switching to CPI upon an ≥80% reduction of BRAF variant allele frequency ( VAF) in circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA; n = 11). The study achieved its primary endpoints with 100% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 94-100%) of critical results provided within 7 days to inform a decision to switch and 100% of patients commencing TT achieving an ≥80% reduction of BRAF VAF (95% CI: 80-100%). Secondary outcomes included progression-free survival and overall survival. No new safety signals were observed for TT/CPI. Post-hoc analysis of clinical features, circulating cytokines and chemokines at ctDNA nadir following TT induction suggested a more favourable profile prior to CPI initiation. Longitudinal ctDNA dynamics revealed ctDNA provided an early signal of CPI benefit and that rechallenge with TT following CPI progression resulted in a further ctDNA response. These data support the utility of ctDNA to guide treatment decision-making within a clinically relevant timeframe to optimise treatment scheduling strategies.