Development of a Diagnostic Blood Test for Breast Cancer
Abstract
The purpose of this project is to develop a diagnostic blood test for breast cancer. Specifically, we have proposed to test the feasibility of detecting breast cancer derived DNA shed into blood using a recently developed technique, methylation-specific PCR (MSP) The first aim of the project is to test breast tissue specimens and paired serum or plasma samples for patterns of DNA methylation using markers already known to be methylated in a high proportion of breast cancers. To this end, we have collected 55 sets of paired samples and we have tested 34 of the tumor samples for methylation of at least one marker. Based on our preliminary studies, it appears that the majority of breast cancers do have methylation of one or more of the genes that we plan to use for this phase of the project. While serum/plasma samples from breast cancer patients have not yet been tested, we have improved our technical ability to conduct MSP on DNA isolated from serum/plasma. The second aim of the project is to identify new sequences that are differentially methylated in breast cancers compared to normal tissues. Using methylation-specific arbitrarily primed PCR, we have identified one promising candidate sequence.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2000
- Accession Number
- ADA386746
Entities
People
- Edward W. Gabrislson
Organizations
- Johns Hopkins University