Nature Cancer: cfDNA methylation profiles provide clues for the treatment of small cell lung cancer

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) accounts for approximately 15% of lung cancer cases and is characterized by high invasiveness and rapid metastasis

Methylation profiles of circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) in the blood can help distinguish tumor subtypes in patients with small cell lung cancer and provide potential therapeutic clues, a team led by the University of Manchester has found

Co-corresponding author Professor Caroline Dive, University of Manchester Cancer Institute, UK, said: "Our data reveal the potential clinical application of cfDNA methylation profiling as a universally applicable liquid biopsy method for patients with small cell lung cancer.

The researchers employed an enrichment-based next-generation sequencing approach to assess genome-wide DNA methylation patterns without the use of bisulfite

The team then used the same next-generation sequencing strategy, also known as T7-MBD-seq, to ​​analyze 157 cfDNA samples, 78 from patients with small cell lung cancer and 79 from cancer-free controls

"Overall, these data demonstrate that our T7-MBD-seq approach provides reproducible and characteristic SCLC methylation profiles that are easily detected in cfDNA

According to the researchers, past studies have revealed the wide heterogeneity of small cell lung cancer

Using the differentially methylated regions detected by this DNA methylation profiling method, they identified methylation signatures from circulating cfDNA that were consistent with clinical outcomes while distinguishing small cell lung cancer subtypes based on different transcription factors

"Overall, these data suggest that cfDNA methylation profiling has potential clinical utility in small cell lung cancer, as it enables sensitive tumor detection and provides prognostic information

They believe that this blood-based typing method can greatly accelerate the development of small cell lung cancer by assessing the different responses of different disease subtypes to new drugs, helping people understand the mechanisms of acquired resistance and placing suitable candidates in clinical trials.

Original text retrieval

Chemi, F.