Use of a new generation of capillary electrophoresis to quantify circulating free DNA in non-small cell lung cancer.

Circulating free DNA (cfDNA) is present in higher concentration in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients than in controls. This study was designed to assess the sensitivity and specificity of Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer to identify patients with NSCLC and to compare it with quantitative RealTime-PCR (RT-qPCR) assay. 30 NSCLC patients and 26 controls were analyzed. The amount of cfDNA was determined both through quantitative RT-PCR targeting the human β-actin gene and by Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer. Performances of the assays were calculated by the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. The mean cfDNA concentration, obtained through the use of Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer, in NSCLC patients (94.5 ng/mL) was almost twice the concentration detected in controls (42.8 ng/mL) as well as found by RT-qPCR (22.5 ng/mL vs 7.1 ng/mL, p<0.001). The area under curve of Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer and RT-PCR showed that there are no statistically significant differences between these tests (p<0.92). This study shows that Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer is an effective diagnostic tool to discriminate NSCLC patients from healthy individuals and suggests a new approach for early detection of NSCLC.