Скачать или смотреть New technology for circulating tumour DNA analysis. Marion Rhodes Memorial Scholar, David Barclay

Genetics is the next frontier in cancer research and medicine, and groundbreaking technologies are constantly being evaluated for the clinic. Soon, it may be possible to infer drug resistance, sensitivity, tumour growth and other key attributes from a simple blood test. A new study seeks to evaluate one such technology for this task, Oxford Nanopore sequencing.

In oncology, frequent monitoring is essential. The longer a patient is being treated with an ineffective drug before the clinician realises, the worse the outcome is. Thus reliable, cheap and accessible monitoring methods are extremely desirable.

Tumour cells release fragments of DNA into the blood, providing a window into the cancer's inner workings. While an old idea, scientists have struggled to account for the extremely low concentration of tumour DNA in blood, where it is mixed with DNA from ordinary cells. Newer technologies such as Oxford Nanopore's sequencing platform could revolutionise the field as it is capable of detecting chemical modifications to the building blocks of DNA as well as genetic mutations in one go. Changes to these modifications, called methylation, are much more widespread than ordinary genetic changes and so are helpful for separating cancer DNA from normal DNA.

It is hoped that Nanopore will be particularly useful in rural communities. The platform is extremely portable and cheap, allowing patients to book an appointment to monitor their cancer locally without the need to commute to urban hospitals for sophisticated imaging equipment.