Development of a Diagnostic Blood Test for Breast Cancer

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to develop a diagnostic blood test for breast cancer. The concept is based on the premise that breast cancers shed sufficient quantities of DNA into plasma to be detected using methylation-specific PCR. During the second year of this study, a small number of serum samples from breast cancer patients were tested for methylation of genes previously determined to be methylated in the cancer tissue. Disappointingly, methylation was detected in only two of these serum samples. Therefore, in the third year of the project, we tested a highly sensitive method for detection of MSP products. Because the genes that we originally used to assay cancers for methylation showed positive results in relatively low - percentages of breast cancer cases, we also profiled methylation of a number of additional genes (12 in all) in over 100 breast cancer cases.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 2002
Accession Number
ADA412743

Entities

People

  • Edward W. Gabrielson

Organizations

  • Johns Hopkins University

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Biomedical Research
  • Blood
  • Blood Cells
  • Breast Cancer
  • Cancer
  • Cells
  • Classification
  • Colon Cancer
  • Detection
  • Epithelial Cells
  • Genes
  • Hematologic Tests
  • Maryland
  • Methylation
  • Neoplasms
  • Sensitivity

Fields of Study

  • Biology

Readers

  • Oncology and Biomarker-Based Cancer Detection.