The research group discovered a new approach for cancer detection and diagnosis by a blood test – the scientific article review by BIOMEDICA CRO
Researchers discovered a way that offers more than 12-fold cost-savings over conventional methods to sequence cfDNA methylome, along with a computational model to extract information from this DNA sequencing to aid early cancer detection and diagnosis.
For this study, Zhou, professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at UCLA and a corresponding author for the study, and collaborators put their novel approach to the test to see if it could accurately detect four commonly diagnosed cancers – Colon, Liver, Lung and Stomach cancer – and do so at early stages.
The researchers collected blood samples from 408 study participants and applied their methylome-based blood test, which can identify a broad range of markers for different cancer types and possible causes. Of those, 217 were cancer patients and 191 were cancer-free control subjects.
Their model was 80.7% accurate in detecting cancers across all stages and about 74.5% accurate in detecting early-stage cancers – those at stages I or II – with just under 98% specificity.
“Our method, cfMethyl-seq, makes cfDNA methylome sequencing a viable option for clinical use”, highlighted Zhou. “Despite the inherent challenges, our study shows tremendous potential for accurate early diagnosis of certain cancers from a single blood test.”
Please find more information on the Nature Communications website, articles, “Cost-effective methylome sequencing of cell-free DNA for accurately detecting and locating cancer”.
Human biospecimens collection by BIOMEDICA CRO – we are honored to participate in pre-clinical trials!
“The key to early cancer detection is to identify the true cancer biomarkers, which requires a large cohort of training samples to cover the heterogeneity of cancer and population.”, – said Zhou, a UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Gene Regulation Program member.
BIOMEDICA CRO team is proud to participate in preclinical trials, biomarkers discovery, and the development of new therapeutic approaches to human diseases. We are ready to provide all our knowledge and experience to support your current need in human biospecimens and associated clinical data.
Our primary area is oncology studies, such as:
• Breast cancer;
• Colorectal Cancer;
• Prostate Cancer;
• Kidney Cancer;
• Cervical cancer,
• Lung cancer, etc.
It is feasible to collect tissue samples (tumor/NAT FFPE blocks, fresh frozen tissue samples, histological slides, and lymph nodes), blood samples (plasma, serum, buffy coat, PBMC) and other biofluids from cancer patients.
In addition, we have contracted 50+ sites and departments with different disease areas.
Once you are close to conducting pre-clinical trials, we are ready to provide full support in line with good laboratory (GLP) and good clinical practices (GCP).
Please email us to start our collaboration at office@biomedica-cro.com / LinkedIn.
