# Assessing the Impact of Comprehensive Genomic Profiling on Therapeutic Selection for Advanced Solid Tumors in Portugal

**Authors:** Nuno Tavares, Pedro Simões, Raquel Lopes-Brás, Teresa R. Pacheco, Sara Damaso, Andre Mansinho, Leonor Abreu Ribeiro, Gonçalo Nogueira-Costa, Catarina Abreu, Tiago Barroso, Nuno Bonito, Rita Figueiró, Bogdana Darmits, Sara Loureiro Melo, Tania Rodrigues, Helena Guedes, Edgar Pratas, Diogo Alpuim Costa, Frederico Ferreira Filipe, Daniela Macedo, Ana Cavaco, Marina Pavanello, Luis Costa

PMC · DOI: 10.3390/curroncol33020066 · 2026-01-23

## TL;DR

This study shows that genomic profiling helps guide treatment and improve outcomes for patients with advanced solid tumors in Portugal.

## Contribution

The study provides real-world evidence of CGP's clinical impact in a Portuguese population with advanced solid tumors.

## Key findings

- Actionable genomic alterations were identified in 50.7% of patients.
- CGP results influenced treatment decisions in 24.4% of patients.
- Approximately 14.6% of patients achieved disease control at 16 weeks with CGP-guided therapy.

## Abstract

Real-world evidence data on the clinical impact of comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) remains limited. The FRONTAL study, a multicenter national registry in Portugal, evaluated the use of CGP in patients with advanced solid tumors who underwent testing with FoundationOne CDx, Liquid CDx, or FoundationOne Heme. Among 205 patients enrolled between 2020 and 2025, actionable genomic alterations were identified in half of the cases, and CGP results influenced treatment decisions in about one-quarter of patients. Importantly, approximately 15% of the total cohort achieved disease control at 16 weeks following CGP-guided therapy. Overall, this study provided real-world evidence supporting the clinical relevance of CGP in informing treatment strategies for advanced solid tumors in Portugal.

Background: Comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) is a tool used in precision oncology to identify genomic alterations and match them with targeted therapies across several tumor types. However, real-world data on its clinical utility and impact remains limited. The FRONTAL study (Foundation Medicine Real wOrld evideNce in porTugAL) is a multicenter academic initiative that established a national registry of Portuguese patients with solid tumors who underwent CGP with FoundationOne CDx, Liquid CDx or FoundationOne Heme assays. Methods: Eligible patients had advanced solid tumors not suitable for curative treatment at the time of recruitment. Prior CGP testing was permitted if taken within 12 months before study initiation. Genomic profiling data were extracted from FoundationOne Medicine reports, and clinical information was extracted from medical records. Actionable alterations were defined as those associated with approved treatments or with clinical evidence of benefit in other cancers, per NCCN guidelines. Variant interpretation was also reviewed according to ESMO Scale for Clinical Actionability of Molecular Targets (ESCAT) guidelines. The primary outcome was disease control at 16 weeks, defined by the absence of progression. Results: The study included 205 patients between 2020 and 2025 across 10 sites, with colorectal (40, 19.5%), sarcomas (28, 13.7%), and other gastrointestinal tumors (22, 10.7%) being the most common pathologies. Actionable alterations were identified in 104 cases (50.7%). Genomic findings guided therapy decisions in 50 patients (24.4%), of whom 30 achieved disease control at 16 weeks (14.6%). Conclusions: The FRONTAL study highlighted the clinical relevance of CGP in advanced solid tumors. Over half of the patients had actionable alterations, a quarter had therapy changes based on CGP results, and improved disease outcome was observed in approximately 15% of the cohort.

## Full-text entities

- **Genes:** CDKN2B (cyclin dependent kinase inhibitor 2B) [NCBI Gene 1030] {aka CDK4I, INK4B, MTS2, P15, TP15, p15INK4b}, KIT (KIT proto-oncogene, receptor tyrosine kinase) [NCBI Gene 3815] {aka C-Kit, CD117, MASTC, PBT, SCFR}, KRAS (KRAS proto-oncogene, GTPase) [NCBI Gene 3845] {aka 'C-K-RAS, C-K-RAS, CFC2, K-RAS2A, K-RAS2B, K-RAS4A}, CDK8 (cyclin dependent kinase 8) [NCBI Gene 1024] {aka IDDHBA, K35}, GNA11 (G protein subunit alpha 11) [NCBI Gene 2767] {aka FBH, FBH2, FHH2, GNA-11, HG1K, HHC2}, TERT (telomerase reverse transcriptase) [NCBI Gene 7015] {aka CMM9, DKCA2, DKCB4, EST2, PFBMFT1, TCS1}, BRIP1 (BRCA1 interacting DNA helicase 1) [NCBI Gene 83990] {aka BACH1, FANCJ, OF}, DIS3 (DIS3 exosome endoribonuclease and 3'-5' exoribonuclease) [NCBI Gene 22894] {aka 2810028N01Rik, EXOSC11, KIAA1008, RRP44, dis3p}, ALK (ALK receptor tyrosine kinase) [NCBI Gene 238] {aka ALK1, CD246, NBLST3}, CUL4A (cullin 4A) [NCBI Gene 8451], NF1 (neurofibromin 1) [NCBI Gene 4763] {aka NFNS, VRNF, WSS}, ASXL1 (ASXL transcriptional regulator 1) [NCBI Gene 171023] {aka BOPS, MDS}, FBXW7 (F-box and WD repeat domain containing 7) [NCBI Gene 55294] {aka AGO, CDC4, DEDHIL, FBW6, FBW7, FBX30}, PDGFRA (platelet derived growth factor receptor alpha) [NCBI Gene 5156] {aka CD140A, PDGFR-2, PDGFR2}, ESR1 (estrogen receptor 1) [NCBI Gene 2099] {aka ER, ESR, ESRA, ESTRR, Era, NR3A1}, EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) [NCBI Gene 1956] {aka ERBB, ERBB1, ERRP, HER1, NISBD2, NNCIS}, FGF3 (fibroblast growth factor 3) [NCBI Gene 2248] {aka HBGF-3, INT2}, PIK3CA (phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate 3-kinase catalytic subunit alpha) [NCBI Gene 5290] {aka CCM4, CLAPO, CLOVE, CWS5, HMH, MCAP}, APC (APC regulator of Wnt signaling pathway) [NCBI Gene 324] {aka BTPS2, DESMD, DP2, DP2.5, DP3, GS}, FGF4 (fibroblast growth factor 4) [NCBI Gene 2249] {aka FGF-4, HBGF-4, HST, HST-1, HSTF-1, HSTF1}, ATRX (ATRX chromatin remodeler) [NCBI Gene 546] {aka JMS, MRX52, RAD54, RAD54L, XH2, XNP}, MYC (MYC proto-oncogene, bHLH transcription factor) [NCBI Gene 4609] {aka MRTL, MYCC, bHLHe39, c-Myc}, ATM (ATM serine/threonine kinase) [NCBI Gene 472] {aka AT1, ATA, ATC, ATD, ATDC, ATE}, PTCH1 (patched 1) [NCBI Gene 5727] {aka BCNS, BCNS1, NBCCS, PTC, PTC1, PTCH}, IRS2 (insulin receptor substrate 2) [NCBI Gene 8660] {aka IRS-2}, TET2 (tet methylcytosine dioxygenase 2) [NCBI Gene 54790] {aka IMD75, KIAA1546, MDS}, FLT3 (fms related receptor tyrosine kinase 3) [NCBI Gene 2322] {aka CD135, FLK-2, FLK2, STK1}, BRAF (B-Raf proto-oncogene, serine/threonine kinase) [NCBI Gene 673] {aka B-RAF1, B-raf, BRAF-1, BRAF1, NS7, RAFB1}, HRAS (HRas proto-oncogene, GTPase) [NCBI Gene 3265] {aka C-BAS/HAS, C-H-RAS, C-HA-RAS1, CTLO, H-RASIDX, HAMSV}, PTEN (phosphatase and tensin homolog) [NCBI Gene 5728] {aka 10q23del, BZS, CWS1, DEC, GLM2, MHAM}, FGFR2 (fibroblast growth factor receptor 2) [NCBI Gene 2263] {aka BBDS, BEK, BFR-1, CD332, CEK3, CFD1}, CDKN2A (cyclin dependent kinase inhibitor 2A) [NCBI Gene 1029] {aka ARF, CAI2, CDK4I, CDKN2, CMM2, INK4}, TP53 (tumor protein p53) [NCBI Gene 7157] {aka BCC7, BMFS5, LFS1, P53, TRP53}, ARID1A (AT-rich interaction domain 1A) [NCBI Gene 8289] {aka B120, BAF250, BAF250a, BM029, C1orf4, CSS2}, CDK6 (cyclin dependent kinase 6) [NCBI Gene 1021] {aka MCPH12, PLSTIRE}, VEGFA (vascular endothelial growth factor A) [NCBI Gene 7422] {aka L-VEGF, MVCD1, VEGF, VPF}, HGF (hepatocyte growth factor) [NCBI Gene 3082] {aka DFNB39, F-TCF, HGFB, HPTA, SF}, DNMT3A (DNA methyltransferase 3 alpha) [NCBI Gene 1788] {aka DNMT3A2, HESJAS, M.HsaIIIA, TBRS}, NTRK3 (neurotrophic receptor tyrosine kinase 3) [NCBI Gene 4916] {aka GP145-TrkC, TRKC, gp145(trkC)}, NRAS (NRAS proto-oncogene, GTPase) [NCBI Gene 4893] {aka ALPS4, CMNS, N-ras, NCMS, NRAS1, NS6}, FGF14 (fibroblast growth factor 14) [NCBI Gene 2259] {aka FGF-14, FHF-4, FHF4, NYS4, SCA27, SCA27A}, ERBB2 (erb-b2 receptor tyrosine kinase 2) [NCBI Gene 2064] {aka CD340, HER-2, HER-2/neu, HER2, MLN 19, MLN-19}
- **Diseases:** gynecological tumors (MESH:D005833), central nervous system tumors (MESH:D016543), genitourinary tumors (MESH:D014565), urological neoplasms (MESH:D014571), gastrointestinal stromal and thyroid tumors (MESH:D046152), endometrial carcinoma (MESH:D016889), death (MESH:D003643), colorectal (MESH:D015179), basal cell carcinoma of the skin (MESH:D002280), glioblastomas (MESH:D005909), colon (MESH:D003108), FRONTAL (MESH:D016773), breast, gynecological, head and neck, prostate, central nervous system tumors (MESH:D011472), ameloblastoma (MESH:D000564), Breast and gynecologic malignancies (MESH:D001943), gastrointestinal tumors (MESH:D005770), ovarian cancer (MESH:D010051), lung cancer (MESH:D008175), Cancer (MESH:D009369), Head &amp; Neck (MESH:D006258), metastatic (MESH:D000092182), synchronous carcinomas of the cecum (ileocecal region (MESH:D044504), colorectal, pancreatic, cholangiocarcinoma, and (MESH:D010195), injury to (MESH:D014947), disease (MESH:D004194), CGP (MESH:D001308), melanoma not otherwise specified (MESH:D008545), Prostate cancer (MESH:D011471), pancreatic cancer (MESH:D010190), hematologic malignancies (MESH:D019337), sarcoma (MESH:D012509), squamous cell carcinoma of the skin (MESH:D002294), non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (MESH:D002289), endocrine cancer (MESH:D004701), undifferentiated carcinoma of the mediastinum (MESH:D008479), I (MESH:D006969), Cholangiocarcinoma (MESH:D018281), porocarcinoma of the skin (MESH:D057090)
- **Chemicals:** CDx (-), everolimus (MESH:D000068338), Alcohol (MESH:D000438), formalin (MESH:D005557), dabrafenib (MESH:C561627), paraffin (MESH:D010232), trametinib (MESH:C560077)
- **Species:** Homo sapiens (human, species) [taxon 9606], Nicotiana tabacum (American tobacco, species) [taxon 4097]
- **Mutations:** V600

## Figures

3 figures with captions in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12939597/full.md

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12939597