Ultrasensitive amplification-free quantification of a methyl CpG-rich cancer biomarker by single-molecule kinetic fingerprinting.

ABSTRACT: The most well-studied epigenetic marker in humans is the 5-methyl modification of cytosine in DNA, which has great potential as a disease biomarker in liquid biopsies of cell-free DNA. Currently, quantification of DNA methylation relies heavily on bisulfite conversion followed by PCR amplification and NGS or microarray analysis. PCR is subject to potential bias in differential amplification of bisulfite-converted methylated versus unmethylated sequences. Here, we combine bisulfite conversion with single-molecule kinetic fingerprinting to develop an amplification-free assay for DNA methylation at the branched-chain amino acid transaminase 1 (BCAT1) promoter. Our assay selectively responds to methylated sequences with a limit of detection below 1 fM and a specificity of 99.9999%. Eval

SUBMITTER: Dai L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11030368 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature