Heavy research! The world's first high-throughput methylation non-invasive detection of new technology, can be used for cancer early screening and traceability

A week ago, Professor Zhang Kun (Kun Zhang) of the University of California, San Diego, just published a review in Nature Methods, commenting on the latest single-cell analysis methods in the world. Then on March 7, the latest masterpiece of Professor Zhang Kun's team was released online on Nature Genetics (IF:31.616), entitled "Identification of methylation haplotype blocks aids in deconvolution of heterogeneous tissue samples and tumor tissue-of-origin mapping from plasma DNA". This article pioneered a new high-throughput non-invasive detection technology of methylation, which can be used for early cancer screening and tracing in the near future.

In the past, the detection and localization of cancer were done by using the dual signals of cancer markers and tissue-specific CpG methylation patterns. This early detection of cancer based on ctDNA in cancer patients cannot locate the location of tumor occurrence. Professor Zhang Kun believes: "Understanding the location of the tumor is essential for effective early detection."

In order to overcome this problem, Professor Zhang's team has developed a new liquid biopsy technology, which can not only detect cancer in the early stage, but also achieve tissue localization. The principle of this technology is simple, that is, by looking for cancer markers to screen, and by tissue-specific CpG methylation pattern signals to locate.

The cancer marker is the DNA of apoptotic normal cells in the blood. Because when the human body suffers from cancer, cancer cells will compete with normal cells for nutrients and living space, and lead to a large number of abnormal death of normal cells. After the death of normal cells, their DNA will not be decomposed but released into the blood. Therefore, researchers can screen whether the human body currently suffers from cancer by detecting these DNA in the blood, which is simple and will not cause trauma to the human body.

The localization of tissue cells is achieved by detecting methylation screening. Each tissue in the body has its own unique methylation pattern. According to this characteristic, in Professor Zhang's method, the localization of tissues is achieved by screening CpG methylation haplotype (CpG methylation haplotypes) tags.

Professor Zhang said: "We discovered this method by accident. Initially, we used the regular method to look for cancer cell signals to find out where they came from. But in the process we also found signals from other cells and realized that if we integrated the two sets of signals, we could determine whether the cancer was present and where it was growing."

In the development process, the researchers first built a database of all CpG methylation patterns in 10 different tissues (liver, small intestine, colon, lung, brain, kidney, pancreas, spleen, stomach and blood). They then analyzed tumor and blood samples from cancer patients at UCSD Moores Cancer Center and built a database of cancer-specific gene markers. This database was obtained after analyzing 61 genome-wide bisulfite sequencing data sets. After verification with 101 representative bisulfite sequencing data sets and 637 methylation array data sets, up to 147,888 tightly coupled CpG sites were defined.

Subsequently, the researchers screened blood samples from cancer patients and healthy people for both cancer markers and tissue-specific CpG methylation patterns to verify and confirm the effectiveness of the method. "This is a proof-of-concept study. In order to move this study to the clinical stage, we need to work with doctors to further refine and refine this approach," Professor Zhang stressed."

Professor Zhang's research is undoubtedly of breakthrough significance to the increasingly serious situation of cancer. The new combination of tumor ctDNA liquid biopsy and methylation detection will modify our understanding of the concept of "early tumor screening", and the related industry prospects are also exciting. According to Professor Zhang Kun, the "new high-throughput methylation non-invasive detection technology" developed in this research has applied for a global patent and has been exclusively licensed to the company he participated in, Kun Yuan Gene, for commercial development of new early cancer detection. Perhaps in the near future, the world's "next" powerful cancer early screening company will be created. At the same time, this new technology can help more people detect cancer at an early stage and get timely treatment.

News source:http://news.bioon.com/article/6699492.html

This news was re-edited and reorganized by the Huaxun team and added analytical comments.