Open AccessLiquid biopsy: a new source of candidate biomarkers in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Author(s) -
Mendioroz Maite,
MartínezMerino Leyre,
BlancoLuquin Idoia,
Urdánoz Amaya,
Roldán Miren,
Jericó Ivonne
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
annals of clinical and translational neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.824
H-Index - 42
ISSN - 2328-9503
DOI - 10.1002/acn3.565
Subject(s) - amyotrophic lateral sclerosis , medicine , liquid biopsy , epigenetics , biopsy , disease , brain biopsy , pathology , biomarker , bioinformatics , gene , cancer , genetics , biology
Abstract Noninvasive tests to diagnose and monitor the progression of neurodegenerative disorders have been a challenge for decades. The aim of this study was to explore the feasibility of applying liquid biopsy procedures to patients with a neurodegenerative disease such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ( ALS ). We isolated plasma cell‐free DNA (cf DNA ) in 20 ALS patients and 20 controls and used cf DNA to identify a novel differentially methylated mark in RHBDF 2 gene in ALS patients compared to controls. Our findings support the notion that liquid biopsy may be applied to living patients as a source of potential epigenetic biomarkers for neurodegenerative disorders.