Open AccessQuantitative detection of circulating MT-ND1 as a potential biomarker for colorectal cancer
Author(s) -
Yichun Xu,
Jiajing Zhou,
Qing Yuan,
Jun Su,
Qian Li,
LU Xiao-liang,
Liwen Zhang,
Zhai Cai,
Jianyong Han
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
bosnian journal of basic medical sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.738
H-Index - 25
eISSN - 1840-4812
pISSN - 1512-8601
DOI - 10.17305/bjbms.2021.5576
Subject(s) - medicine , colorectal cancer , biomarker , cancer , oncology , bioinformatics , biology , biochemistry , chemistry
Liquid biopsy represents a diagnostic and monitoring tool and the circulating cell-free mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) plays a vital role in tumor diagnosis and dynamic assessment. Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common fatal cancers worldwide. Mitochondrially encoded NADH dehydrogenase subunit 1 (MT-ND1) encodes the biggest subunit of respiratory complex I of mtDNA, and mutations in the MT-ND1 are common in CRC. We sought to determine if mutations in circulating MT-ND1 could be a potential biomarker for colorectal cancer. In this study, twenty-two CRC patients at Zhujiang Hospital were included. We mainly used droplet digital PCR to determine the mutation status of MT-ND1, combined with clinical data. In the experiment in vivo, cell-free mtDNA generally presented high concordance with tumor tissues. By quantitative PCR, the MT-ND1 content of plasma in CRC patients was significantly higher than that in healthy individuals (58.01 vs. 0.64, p=0.027). The detection of circulating MT-ND1 content and variants (m.3606 A>G, m.3970 C>T, m.4071 C>T, m.4086 C>T) in cfDNA showed a good correlation with predicted tumor response and progression to chemotherapy. In conclusion, the content and variants of circulating MT-ND1 may become a versatile tool for the diagnosis and monitoring of colorectal cancer.