A suite of liquid biopsy approaches for cancer detection and more

Three groups reported new liquid biopsy approaches for detection of early and late-stage cancer that could supplement current blood-based cancer screening.

Published in Science Advances, researchers from National University of Singapore and collaborators used a heat-based bisulfite sequencing platform to estimate tumor burden, track colorectal cancer patient treatment responses and epigenetically subtype tumors. The method, dubbed Heatrich-BS, analyzes the small fraction of GC-rich genome that is highly enriched in CpG sites, as those sites harbor most of the cancer-specific methylation signature. The method could offer a low-cost and scalable screening option...