We are excited to announce the publication about Cyclomics’ core CyclomicsSeq technology in Genomic Medicine.
CyclomicsSeq technology involves a novel consensus sequencing approach fully optimised for circulating tumor DNA. The small size and low abundance of circulating tumor DNA in the blood of cancer patients makes accurate detection of cancer mutations difficult. Cyclomics has established a novel technology that enables efficient circularisation and concatemerization of small circulating DNA fragments from the blood of cancer patients. The long concatemeric molecules generated using this approach form an ideal substrate for long-read sequencing, such as Oxford Nanopore single-molecule sequencing technology.
“Since the start of the company we have worked hard to optimise the CyclomicsSeq laboratory protocol and data analysis pipeline. The publication describes the entire process from the isolation of circulating DNA molecules from blood samples to the sequencing and bioinformatic detection of cancer mutations”, says Dr. Marcozzi, first author on the publication and co-founder and R&D director at Cyclomics.
The first CyclomicsSeq test, as described in the publication, involves the analysis of exonic regions of the TP53 gene, which is mutated in more than 40% of all human cancers.
“The focus on mutations in TP53 enabled us to apply the CyclomicsSeq assay to blood samples of patients with HPV-negative head and neck cancer, since these tumors are often driven by mutations in TP53”, according to Dr. Jager, lead clinical scientist involved in the study. The CyclomicsSeq TP53 test is at least as sensitive as commonly used digital droplet PCR assays, while providing the advantage of covering all possible cancer mutations, instead of just a hand full of hotspot variants. “In our pilot study, we have shown that CyclomicsSeq can be used to monitor treatment response in patients with head and neck cancer, providing an alternative solution to traditional MRI scans, which can have a relatively poor resolution for this tumor type”, says Dr. Jager.
CyclomicsSeq has the potential to revolutionise cancer detection from liquid biopsies, particularly when combined with Oxford Nanopore sequencing technology. The first results described in the publication have succesfully shown the combination of CyclomicsSeq with the Oxford Nanopore Flongle system, providing a highly attractive and flexible solution for rapid cancer detection from a liquid biopsy sample. The Cyclomics team is committed to improve the technological basis of CyclomicsSeq and explore possibilities to apply CyclomicsSeq in other cancer indications. Please contact us, if you are interested to work with us.