This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Screening method identified circulating tumor cells in patients with lung cancer
Researchers have developed a method to analyze circulating tumor cells in the blood of patients with non–small cell lung cancer, according to findings presented at the AACR-IASLC Joint Conference on Molecular Origins of Lung Cancer: Biology, Therapy and Personalized Medicine in San Diego.
Using high-throughput matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry single nucleotide polymorphism analysis (MASSarray, Sequenom Inc.), researchers developed a methodology to detect cancer-associated genetic mutations in genes in NSCLC circulating tumor cell specimens. The system requires very little DNA and is sensitive enough to obtain data from small samples, such as core needle biopsies, fine needle aspirates and circulating tumor cells.
“We have developed an extremely sensitive test that could be able to detect mutations present in circulating tumor cells, and we are hoping that from their characterization, we would be able to understand diagnostic, prognostic and predictive markers,” Heidi S. Erickson, PhD, assistant professor of thoracic/head and neck medical oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, said in a press release.
Within this system, the researchers developed a lung cancer assay panel of 13 genes/135 mutations to test for somatic mutations in genes associated with lung cancer.
To analyze circulating tumor cells, researchers first analyzed and confirmed 57 NSCLC cell lines with known mutations, then successfully analyzed DNA from 90 frozen and matched formaldehyde fixed-paraffin embedded NSCLC resected tissues. Researchers also examined cell line DNA and matched whole-genome amplified DNA equivalents of 100 to 1,000 cells with known EGFR L585R and KRAS G34A mutations and negative control DNA.
By directly comparing unamplified and matched amplified circulating tumor cell equivalents, researchers found that both unamplified and amplified circulating tumor cell equivalents reported identical mutation status results. Through this system, researchers can study mutations in multiple genes using small amount of DNA from circulating tumor cell numbers in a high-throughput manner.
For more information:
- Erickson H. Abstract #A12. Presented at: AACR-IASLC Joint Conference on Molecular Origins of Lung Cancer: Biology, Therapy and Personalized Medicine; Jan. 8-11, 2012; San Diego.
 |
Follow HemOncToday.com on Twitter. |