Pharmcogenomics cancer

DNA methylation is a key diagnostic maker for genetic disease, cancer progression and pharmcogenomics. So far various techniques have been developed for DNA methylation assay, but most of them are laborious and time-consuming. Here we develop a simple and highly sensitive DNA methylation assay based on single base extension reaction and surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). In the presence of methylated DNA, gold nanoparticle-modified capture probe can couple with a cyanine 5-deoxyribonucleoside triphosphate (cy5-dGTP) through single base extension reaction, and generates a high SERS signal after further addition of gold nanoparticles to increase the local electromagnetic field...

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are one of the key diagnostic markers for genetic disease, cancer progression, and pharmcogenomics. The ligase detection reaction (LDR) is an excellent method to identify SNPs, combining low detection limits and high specificity. We present the first multiplex LDR-surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) SNP genotyping scheme. The platform has the advantage in that the diagnostic peaks of Raman are more distinct than fluorescence, and in theory, a clinically significant number of markers can be multiplexed in a single sample using different SERS reporters...

The Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group conducts phase II and III trials for the treatment of resectable and unresectable stage III non-small cell lung cancer, and also participates in a number of Intergroup studies. For resectable disease, the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group is participating in a phase III prospective randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of the epidermal growth factor receptor antagonist gefitinib (ZD1839), a phase II trial for superior sulcus tumors of induction chemoradiotherapy with cisplatin/etoposide followed by surgical resection, followed by docetaxel...