Researchers Report Ability to Detect Cancer at Earliest, Curable Stage

Researchers at the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego report that they have developed a new method for detecting cancer very early in its development, when it consists of just a few cells. The best existing detection methods are not able to detect a tumor until it consists of about one million cells.

The paper*, published in the April 18 issue of the online journal PLoS ONE, describes a series of proof-of-concept experiments in which the researchers, working with two cancer cell lines, were able to select out and amplify tiny amounts of cancer-causing DNA in the presence of more than 99.9 percent of normal DNA. Current methods for identifying deleted DNA would not work in clinical settings because they require isolation of relatively pure cancer cells. This is not feasible for clinical samples, which typically contain large amounts of the person’s normal cells.

“We have developed a new technology for very early detection of virtually any type of solid-tumor cancer based upon damaged DNA, which is where all cancers begin,” said co-author Dennis A. Carson, M.D., professor of medicine and director of the Moores Cancer Center. “We are now working with engineers toward the fabrication of the clinical devices that will enable this to be widely used in patients.”

Carson said they are several years away from clinical testing, but ultimately individuals will be able to be screened for DNA markers of cancer cells using simple clinical samples such as blood or urine. Using this same technology, physicians will be able to easily and inexpensively monitor the status of patients by looking for the DNA markers. If the treatment worked, there would be no mutated DNA and the patient would be cured. Such monitoring would also shorten the time needed to determine if the treatment is not working so another approach could be instituted.

The technology, called Primer Approximation Multiplex PCR (PAMP), is based upon an enzyme reaction that only works when a piece of DNA has been deleted or is abnormally joined to another piece of DNA, according to co-author Yu-Tsueng Liu, M.D., Ph.D., assistant project scientist and director of the biomarker laboratory at the Moores Cancer Center. The exact location of the mutation does not matter. The method will detect any mutated DNA in the presence of normal DNA, and amplify only the mutant molecules.

Liu explains: “When a cancer cell mutates, it often brings together two pieces of DNA that are normally apart. We have developed an enzyme reaction that works well only when two DNA pieces that are normally separated are close together. This technology amplifies the mutant DNA and then uses a microarray to identify the specific mutation. Our experiments were conducted on a specific gene mutation that is well-known for its role in cancer, called CDKN2A, but this technology would work on any DNA abnormality.”

Source: UCSD

Related stories:

Scientist to bare his DNA
Here's some personal information about Misha Angrist: His blood pressure is 104 over 65. He weighs 173 pounds, has fought anxiety and depression and is very allergic to cats.
Conference explores hot new field of synthetic biology
Bay Area futurists and their fans gathered Sunday in a coming-of-age celebration for the fledgling field of synthetic biology, which builds living entities from lifeless chemicals.
Biologists theorize role for DNA packaging in stem cell development
MIT biologists have discovered that the organization of DNA's packing material plays a critical role in directing stem cells to become different types of adult cells.
Cancer patient genome sequenced for the first time
For the first time, scientists have decoded the complete DNA of a cancer patient and traced her disease - acute myelogenous leukemia - to its genetic roots. A large research team at the Genome Sequencing Center and the Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis sequenced the genome of the patient - a woman in her 50s who ultimately died of her disease - and the genome of her leukemia cells, to identify genetic changes unique to her cancer.
'Junk' DNA proves functional
In a paper published in Genome Research on Nov. 4, scientists at the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) report that what was previously believed to be "junk" DNA is one of the important ingredients distinguishing humans from other species.
Scientists map molecular regulation of fat-cell genetics
A research team led by Mitchell Lazar, MD, PhD, Director of the Institute for Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has used state-of-the-art genetic technology to map thousands of positions where a molecular "master regulator" of fat-cell biology is nestled in DNA to control genes in these cells. The findings appear online this week in Genes & Development.
Protein-printing technique gives snapshots of immune system defense
When Albrecht Durer and other Renaissance artists painstakingly etched images onto plates, swabbed ink into the fine grooves and transferred the images to paper with a press, they never could have guessed that centuries later the same technique would uncover the secrets of human cells.
Human genes sing different tunes in different tissues
Scientists have long known that it's possible for one gene to produce slightly different forms of the same protein by skipping or including certain sequences from the messenger RNA. Now, an MIT team has shown that this phenomenon, known as alternative splicing, is both far more prevalent and varies more between tissues than was previously believed.

News discussion:

Medicine & Health news