Circulating tumour-derived KRAS mutations in pancreatic cancer cases are predominantly carried by very short fragments of cell-free DNA.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The DNA released into the bloodstream by malignant tumours· called circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA), is often a small fraction of total cell-free DNA shed predominantly by hematopoietic cells and is therefore challenging to detect. Understanding the biological properties of ctDNA is key to the investigation of its clinical relevance as a non-invasive marker for cancer detection and monitoring.

Methods

We selected 40 plasma DNA samples of pancreatic cancer cases previously reported to carry a KRAS mutation at the 'hotspot' codon 12 and re-screened the cell-free DNA using a 4-size amplicons strategy (57 bp, 79 bp, 167 bp and 218 bp) combined with ultra-deep sequencing in order to investigate whether amplicon lengths could impact on the capacity of detection of ctDNA,

SUBMITTER: Zvereva M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7251242 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature