DNA METHYLATION FOR EARLY DETECTION

OCRF-funded research project

DNA METHYLATION FOR EARLY DETECTION

Institution:University of New South Wales

Lead Researcher: Dr Kristina Warton

Funding Awarded:$380,500

Year/s: 2017-2020

Project Description:

Dr Warton and her team investigated a blood test for the early detection of ovarian cancer that focuses on circulating tumour DNA. Similarly, to other cancerous tumours, ovarian cancer tumours shed DNA. This DNA that has been shed then spills over into the bloodstream. The DNA is different to healthy DNA as it has mutations; however, it is often difficult to detect as it is very fragmented. Additionally, the mutations differ patient to patient, and this makes it challenging to identify a ‘common thread’ behind the disease. However, methylation is an event that occurs in cancer, which seems to be relatively consistent. For this reason, Dr Warton used a cutting-edge scientific technique to amplify this circulating tumour DNA in order to detect methylation.

Expected/Achieved Outcomes:

Knowledge Building:This project compared blood samples of women with and without ovarian cancer in order to validate this early detection approach. The team started with 73 candidate DNA regions as biomarker candidates. Throughout the project here were some technical issues encountered that the team were able to resolve and better understand. They showed that the short length of cell-free DNA from blood protects it from fragmentation during the analysis process and this is important as fragmentation decreases sensitivity. They also identified ‘the hook effect’ which can sometimes be seen when analysing methylated DNA through an PCR process. The ‘hook effect’ occurs when more than one DNA target is measured during a reaction, which can make data unreliable.