A comparison of DP-TOF Mass Spectroscopy (MS) and Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) methods for detecting molecular mutations in thyroid nodules fine needle aspiration biopsies.

Mutations in the B-Raf proto-oncogene, serine/threonine kinase (BRAF), have been linked to a variety of solid tumors such as papillary thyroid carcinoma. The purpose of this study was to compare the DP-TOF, a DNA mass spectroscopy (MS) platform, and next-generation sequencing (NGS) methods for detecting multiple-gene mutations (including BRAFV600E) in thyroid nodule fine-needle aspiration fluid. In this study, we collected samples from 93 patients who had previously undergone NGS detection and had sufficient DNA samples remaining. The MS method was used to detect multiple-gene mutations (including BRAFV600E) in DNA remaining samples. NGS detection method was used as the standard. The MS method's overall sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) were 95.8%, 100%, 100%, and 88%, respectively in BRAFV600E gene mutation detection. With a kappa-value of 0.92 (95%CI 0.82-0.99), the level of agreement between these methods was incredibly high. Furthermore, when compared to NGS in multiple-gene detection, the MS method demonstrated higher sensitivity and specificity, 82.9% and 100%, respectively. In addition, we collected the postoperative pathological findings of 50 patients. When the postoperative pathological findings were used as the standard, the MS method demonstrated higher sensitivity and specificity, at 80% and 80%, respectively. Our findings show that the MS method can be used as an inexpensive, accurate, and dependable initial screening method to detect genes mutations and as an adjunct to clinical diagnosis.

[Development of a single-tube PCR-pyrosequencing method for simultaneous and rapid detection of the genetic polymorphism of warfarin metabolizing enzymes].

The purpose of this article is to develop a new high throughput method for detecting genetic polymorphism of warfarin metabolism-related genes rapidly in a single tube. Genomic DNA from human peripheral blood was extracted, and amplified with biotinylated primer to obtain single-stranded templates for pyrosequencing. Then, the single-stranded tem-plates were subjected to Pyrosequencing analysis using PyroMark ID instrument. Simultaneously, Sanger sequencing was also applied to sequence the products as a control to check the reliability of the pyrosequencing result.. The results dis-played that three variants of the warfarin metabolism-related genetic polymorphism (CYP2C9*2, CYP2C9*3, and VKORC1(-1693)) could be simultaneously detected using three different sequencing primers in a single-tube (one test), and 96 tests could be carried out each time. Repeat test and reliability test indicated that the agreement between the pyrosequencing and the Sanger sequencing methods was 100%. . All of these demonstrated that pyrosequencing could accurately and rapidly detect the genetic polymorphism of the warfarin drug metabolism-related genes with high throughput. Compar-ing with simplex pyrosequencing, the method established in the present study was much more economical and timesaving. It has a great value in personalized medical treatment and could be extended to the other genetic diseases.