Mechanisms involved in the fragmentation of plasma DNA

Circulating DNA in plasma has many diagnostic applications, including noninvasive prenatal testing and cancer liquid biopsy; however, little is known about the mechanisms involved in the fragmentation of plasma DNA. The study “Dnase1l3 deletion causes aberrations in length and end-motif frequencies in plasma DNA” linked the fields of nuclease biology and circulating nucleic acids and has opened up avenues for future research. An enhanced understanding of the biology of circulating DNA might help design optimal strategies for their use in molecular diagnostics. (Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019 Jan 8;116(2):641-649. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1815031116. Epub 2018 Dec 28).

Anyone interested in future collaboration in this field of researchis welcome to contact our key investigator, Prof Dennis Lo, Chairman of our Department of Chemical Pathology. Prof Lo is an internationally renowned researcher in noninvasive prenatal testing and cancer liquid biopsy. His team has pioneered tests for the screening of Down Syndrome and multiple types of cancer. 

Read the full article: https://www.pnas.org/content/116/2/641.long

More about research at CU Medicine: https://research.med.cuhk.edu.hk