Dielectrophoretic recovery of DNA from plasma for the identification of chronic lymphocytic leukemia point mutations.

AIM

Circulating cell free (ccf) DNA contains information about mutations affecting chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). The complexity of isolating DNA from plasma inhibits the development of point-of-care diagnostics. Here, we introduce an electrokinetic method that enables rapid recovery of DNA from plasma.

MATERIALS & METHODS: ccf-DNA was isolated from 25 µl of CLL plasma using dielectrophoresis. The DNA was used for PCR amplification, sequencing and analysis.

RESULTS

The ccf-DNA collected from plasma of 5 CLL patients revealed identical mutations to those previously identified by extracting DNA from CLL cells from the same patients.

CONCLUSION

Rapid dielectrophoresis isolation of ccf-DNA directly from plasma provides sufficient amounts of DNA to use for identification of point mutations in genes associated with CLL progression.