Priming agents transiently reduce the clearance of cell-free DNA to improve liquid biopsies.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 38236959.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/science.adf2341 and PMC identifier 11529396.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Liquid biopsies enable early detection and monitoring of diseases such as cancer, but their sensitivity remains limited by the scarcity of analytes such as cell-free DNA (cfDNA) in blood. Improvements to sensitivity have primarily relied on enhancing sequencing technology ex vivo. We sought to transiently augment the level of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in a blood draw by attenuating its clearance in vivo. We report two intravenous priming agents given 1 to 2 hours before a blood draw to recover more ctDNA. Our priming agents consist of nanoparticles that act on the cells responsible for cfDNA clearance and DNA-binding antibodies that protect cfDNA. In tumor-bearing mice, they greatly increase the recovery of ctDNA and improve the sensitivity for detecting small tumors.
Medical subject headings
- Cell-Free Nucleic Acids
- Neoplasms