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Circulating Tumor DNA Analysis in Pediatric cancer

Ibrahim, Raghda (2020) MOBN03 20192
Degree Projects in Molecular Biology
Popular Abstract
Potential use of circulating tumor DNA as a biomarker in children’s cancer

Pediatric cancer is the second most common cause of death in children in the developed countries, even though a highly improvement in diagnostic tools and treatment strategies occurred in the last decade. Cancer patients have to endure long treatments with many side effects, with possible multiple surgeries, and radiation. Treatment complications result in different physical and psychological consequences that affect the childhood of cancer survivors and their family relationship or lead to death. Thus, one of the greatest challenges in pediatric cancer management is to find strategies to help doctors to find a better balance between sufficient treatment and... (More)
Potential use of circulating tumor DNA as a biomarker in children’s cancer

Pediatric cancer is the second most common cause of death in children in the developed countries, even though a highly improvement in diagnostic tools and treatment strategies occurred in the last decade. Cancer patients have to endure long treatments with many side effects, with possible multiple surgeries, and radiation. Treatment complications result in different physical and psychological consequences that affect the childhood of cancer survivors and their family relationship or lead to death. Thus, one of the greatest challenges in pediatric cancer management is to find strategies to help doctors to find a better balance between sufficient treatment and least side effects to avoid over or under treatment. So our research can possibly help children who need more treatment to receive more and maybe not die as well as those who are recovering well and don’t need as much treatment.

In the human body, cells are continuously dying. During this process, small pieces of DNA can leak into the blood circulation. This DNA is called cell-free DNA (cfDNA). When cfDNA comes from a cancerous cell it receives the name of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA). CtDNA can be detected and monitored by analyzing plasma and may be an indicator of the presence of cancer in the body. We aimed to investigate the potential use of ctDNA as a biomarker for treatment response and disease recurrence in childhood cancer by analyzing the correlation between ctDNA levels and clinical outcome during treatment and follow up. For this reason, we set up a pilot study where we analyzed ctDNA in the plasma of 9 children with different types of cancer. To achieve that, we used a novel technique called “Simple, Multiplexed, PCR-based barcoding of DNA for Sensitive mutation detection using Sequencing’’ (SiMSen–Seq). After the completion of this pilot study, we will have a better understanding of the potential of ctDNA as a biomarker in treatment response and disease recurrence.


Master’s Degree project 60 credits in Molecular Genetics and Biotechnology 2020
Department of Biology, Lund University
Subject of degree project: Translational Cancer Research
Supervisor: Martin Dalin (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Ibrahim, Raghda
supervisor
organization
course
MOBN03 20192
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
language
English
id
9028602
date added to LUP
2020-09-08 14:45:33
date last changed
2020-09-08 14:45:33
@misc{9028602,
  author       = {{Ibrahim, Raghda}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Circulating Tumor DNA Analysis in Pediatric cancer}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}