Cancers, Vol. 12, Pages 789: Blood Free-Circulating DNA Testing of Methylated RUNX3 Is Useful for Diagnosing Early Gastric Cancer

Cancers, Vol. 12, Pages 789: Blood Free-Circulating DNA Testing of Methylated RUNX3 Is Useful for Diagnosing Early Gastric Cancer Cancers doi: 10.3390/cancers12040789 Authors: Eizaburou Hideura Yutaka Suehiro Jun Nishikawa Takuya Shuto Hiroyuki Fujimura Shunsuke Ito Atsushi Goto Kouichi Hamabe Issei Saeki Takeshi Okamoto Shingo Higaki Ikuei Fujii Chieko Suzuki Tomomi Hoshida Toshihiko Matsumoto Taro Takami Isao Sakaida Takahiro Yamasaki The main modalities for gastric cancer screening are limited to upper gastrointestinal endoscopy and contrast radiography. The former is invasive, and the latter has high false-negative rates. Thus, alternative diagnostic strategies are required. One solution may be a liquid biopsy. Methylated RUNX3 is a well-known biomarker of gastric cancer but it is very difficult to detect with conventional bisulfite-based methylation assays when only a small amount of serum is available. We developed the combined restriction digital PCR (CORD) assay, a new methylation assay allowing for the counting of as little as one copy of a methylated gene in a small sample of DNA without necessitating DNA bisulfite treatment. We evaluated the sensitivity and specificity of the serum DNA testing of methylated RUNX3 by the CORD assay for the detection of early gastric cancer using 50 patients with early gastric cancer and 61 control individuals. The CORD assay had a sensitivity of 50.0% and a specificity of 80.3% for early gas...
Source: Cancers - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Tags: Article Source Type: research