Spatiotemporal genomic analysis reveals distinct molecular features in recurrent stage I non-small cell lung cancers

Stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) presents diverse outcomes. To identify molecular features leading to tumor recurrence in early-stage NSCLC, we perform multiregional whole-exome sequencing (WES), RNA sequencing, and plasma-targeted circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) detection analysis between recurrent and recurrent-free stage I NSCLC patients (CHN-P cohort) who had undergone R0 resection with a median 5-year follow-up time. Integrated analysis indicates that the multidimensional clinical and genomic model can stratify the prognosis of stage I NSCLC in both CHN-P and EUR-T cohorts and correlates with positive pre-surgical deep next generation sequencing (NGS) ctDNA detection. Increased genomic instability related to DNA interstrand crosslinks and double-strand break repair processes is significantly associated with early tumor relapse. This study reveals important molecular insights into stage I NSCLC and may inform clinical postoperative treatment and follow-up strategies.