AUTHOR=Miao Xinxing , Fang Qianqian , Xiao Xiang , Liu Sidi , Wu Renfei , Yan Jun , Nie Baoqing , Liu Jian 

TITLE=Integrating Cycled Enzymatic DNA Amplification and Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering for Sensitive Detection of Circulating Tumor DNA

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences

VOLUME=Volume 8 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/molecular-biosciences/articles/10.3389/fmolb.2021.676065

DOI=10.3389/fmolb.2021.676065

ISSN=2296-889X

ABSTRACT=Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) represents an emerging biomarker of liquid biopsies for the development of precision cancer diagnostics and therapeutics. However, it remains challenging to sensitively detect ctDNA, due to their short half-life and low concentrations in blood samples. Here we report a new method to address this challenge by integrating cycled enzymatic DNA amplification and Au nanoparticle@silicon-assisted surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) techniques. We have demonstrated reproducible identification of a single-base mutated ctDNA sequence of diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas (DIPG), with the limit of detection (LOD) as low as 9.1 fM. It promises a useful tool to analyze trace amounts of ctDNA for translational medicine including early diagnosis, therapeutic effect monitoring and prognosis of cancer patients.