Blood-based screening for methylation changes in colorectal cancer patients using novel nanotechnologies.

384 Background: Identification of blood-based biomarkers for cancer screening is essential in order to develop novel and minimally invasive methods for colorectal cancer screening. Our lab has successfully applied a novel nanotechnology that allows us to detect and amplify a single tumor DNA fragment in a plasma sample. This DNA is tested for methylation of several genes including TFPI2 which has shown to be highly sensitive and specific for the detection colorectal cancer in stool. Methods: Whole blood was obtained from 18 colorectal cancer patients and plasma was isolated. Plasma was processed using Methylation On Beads nanotechnology (MOB) and bisulfate treated. Methylation status was determined via quantitative PCR method. Results: Two genes, TFPI2 and IGFBP3, were detected with a high sensitivity. TFPI2, demonstrated a methylation frequency of 94.4%, which is concordant with the TFPI2 methylation frequency of 99% in primary colorectal cancer tissues. IGFBP3 showed the methylation frequency of 61.1%, ...