A new paper from Nitzan Rosenfeld’s group at CRUK-CI (my old stomping ground) reports astounding sensitivity for ctDNA liquid biopsy. In “ctDNA monitoring using patient-specific sequencing and integration of variant reads” Jonathan Wan and his co-authors performed whole exome sequencing on tumour biopsies (and PBMCs) […]
“It’s not the size that matters, it’s what you do with it that counts!” Turns out that the first statement very much does matter when it comes to cell free DNA. It is becoming clearer that the size of cfDNA and ctDNA is information that […]
The FDA issued a safety communication today on the risk that biotin supplements “can significantly interfere with certain lab tests and cause incorrect test results”. The FDA communiqué mentions an increase in reported adverse events, and even one death, because of Biotin interference. Biotin interferes with some […]
Can transplant genomics help better understand ctDNA? Circulating cell free (cfDNA) of tumour (ctDNA) is released by apoptotic and necrotic cells into blood and other bodily fluids. It has transformed NIPT and is transforming Cancer medicine. However the biology behind it’s release is still not […]
A recent BioRxiv report from the Gerlinger group at ICR describes a targeted ctDNA sequencing method that uses error correcting UMIs to achieve 100% sensitivity for mutant allele frequencies of >0.15%, and 87% at >0.075%, and reduce false-positive mutation calls by 98.6%, without adversely affecting the […]
