Screening of KRAS mutation in pre- and post-surgery serum of patients suffering from colon cancer by COLD-PCR HRM

Abstract

Genomic characterization of cell-free circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) may offer an opportunity to assess clonal dynamics throughout the course of a patient’s illness. The existence of KRAS driver mutations in colon cancer patients is determinant to decide their treatment and to predict their outcome. DNA is extracted automatically from 400 μL of serum using the MagNa Pure Compact with the Nucleic Acid Isolation Kit I. DNA amplification, COLD-PCR and HRM were performed in the same run in the Light Cycler 480. We found three different situations: pre- and post-surgical samples grouped with the negative control, pre-surgical samples appear to group with the positive control and the post-surgical samples appear to group with the negative control and fi nally both samples, pre- and post-surgical ones, appear to be grouped with the positive control. COLD-PCR HRM is a cost-effective way for screening one of the most common driver mutations to predict the worst prognosis in colorectal cancer.