Amplification-free liquid biopsy by fluorescence approach

Liquid biopsy is an attractive new paradigm of modern cancer research and clinical oncology. Synergy of fluorescence microscopy with mutation specific molecular probes is a method that we developed for the detection of tumor related circulating DNA, ctDNA. The present detection methods of ctDNA samples include amplification-based techniques that have multiple challenges, are often time consuming and rather expensive.

In this work, we successfully applied the hybridization assay and advanced microscopy for the reliable amplification-free detection and quantification of cancer associated mutations in ctDNA.