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Home / Oncology Research Featuring Preclinical and Clinical Cancer Therapeutics, Volume 16, Number 1

Open Access The Role of Cell-Free DNA Size Distribution in the Management of Prostate Cancer

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Cell-free DNA has been shown to have diagnostic potential in a number of malignant diseases. Recently, the integrity or size distribution of these fragments has also been identified as having possible diagnostic value. The current study explores the role of this novel parameter in the clinical diagnosis of prostate cancer. Plasma samples, collected prospectively from men undergoing investigation for prostate cancer, were used to obtain a cell-free DNA sample. Real-time PCR was used to quantify the level of cell-free DNA (ng/ml) and its size distribution (delta Ct) in each case. Sixty-one samples were collected from patients with prostate cancer and 62 from those with benign histology. Analysis failed to reveal a statistically significant relationship between either the level of cell-free DNA (p = 0.82) or its size distribution (p = 0.91) and the presence of cancer. These results demonstrate that cell-free DNA is unlikely to be of diagnostic value in the clinical management of this disease.

Keywords: Cell-free DNA; Prostate cancer; Size distribution

Document Type: Research Article

Affiliations: 1: The Harold Hopkins Department of Urology, Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading, RG30 1AG, UK 2: Nuffield Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK 3: Cancer Research UK, Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK

Publication date: 01 January 2006

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  • Formerly: Oncology Research Incorporating Anti-Cancer Drug Design
    Oncology Research Featuring Preclinical and Clincal Cancer Therapeutics publishes research of the highest quality that contributes to an understanding of cancer in areas of molecular biology, cell biology, biochemistry, biophysics, genetics, biology, endocrinology, and immunology, as well as studies on the mechanism of action of carcinogens and therapeutic agents, reports dealing with cancer prevention and epidemiology, and clinical trials delineating effective new therapeutic regimens.

    From Volume 23, Oncology Research Featuring Preclinical and Clinical Cancer Therapeutics is Open Access under the terms of the Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND license.

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