Cell-free DNA Sequencing for Accurate Bone Marrow Cancer Diagnosis

Sanger sequencing is the current standard approach to analyze cell-free DNA in the blood of patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). But the next-generation sequencing (NGS) methods yields more accurate results. This finding, and //the greater likelihood of detecting the genetic abnormality responsible for the disorder by analyzing cell-free DNA versus DNA extracted from a patient's blood cells, is reported in a new study published in Genetic Testing and Molecular Biomarkers, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.

Ferras Albitar, Maher Albitar, and coauthors from NeoGenomics Laboratories, Irvine, CA, compared three techniques for identifying the DNA mutations associated with MDS, a group of cancers affecting the bone marrow. Both cell-free and cellular DNA from the cancerous cells in the bone marrow are shed into the patient's blood.

In the article 'Deep Sequencing of Cell-Free Peripheral Blood DNA as a Reliable Method for Confirming the Diagnosis of Myelodysplastic Syndrome' the researchers propose that NGS be considered as the method of choice for sequencing cell-free DNA to confirm the diagnosis of MDS.

"This is a remarkable finding that cell-free DNA provides a more sensitive assay for detecting cancer than does the traditional approach of analyzing cell-associated DNA," says Genetic Testing and Molecular Biomarkers Editor-in-Chief Garth D. Ehrlich, PhD, FAAAS, Center for Genomic Sciences and Center for Advanced Microbial Processing, Institute for Molecular Medicine and Infectious Disease, Drexel College of Medicine (Philadelphia, PA).

Source-Eurekalert