A medical research team at the First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, utilizing the unique microfluidic chip digital PCR method developed by Turtle Technology, significantly enhanced the detection sensitivity of methylated SEPT9 gene (mSEPT9) in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. Their findings have been published in "Clinica Chimica Acta" [1] (IF 5.0002).
The study highlighted that the microfluidic chip digital PCR method surpasses the commercial qPCR kits in terms of diagnostic sensitivity and specificity. Initially, the qPCR failed to detect methylated plasmids at copy numbers of 10^-1 copies/μL, whereas digital PCR achieved this detection limit.
Moreover, digital PCR demonstrated a diagnostic sensitivity of 82.11% and specificity of 95.65%, significantly outperforming the commercial qPCR kits (sensitivity: 58.95%, specificity: 91.30%). Notably, in the detection of stage I colorectal cancer samples, digital PCR showed remarkable improvement: sensitivity increased from 9.09% with qPCR to 90.91%. These results indicate the tremendous potential of microfluidic chip digital PCR for screening and early intervention in colorectal cancer.
Such superior performance can be attributed to the advantages of the microfluidic digital PCR method: precise quantification, reduced background interference, minimized contamination risks, and decreased impact of PCR inhibitors, thus enhancing both detection sensitivity and accuracy. Therefore, this method excels in early cancer screening and low-abundance detection. Recently, researchers at Changhai Hospital also achieved precise detection of extremely low-abundance circ-CDYL in liver cancer patients using Turtle Technology's digital PCR platform [2].
Turtle Technology's microfluidic chip digital PCR not only plays a significant role in early cancer screening and timely intervention but is also poised to usher in a new era in the fields of life sciences and molecular diagnostics.
To further facilitate the output of scientific research findings to global life science researchers, Turtle Technolgy is launching the "Super Life Science Collaboration Program: Hundred Horizontal Projects, Thousand SCI Papers." This initiative will continue to drive the multiple transformations of digital PCR in scientific research and clinical applications. We invite you to connect with Turtle Technology at any time for technical exchanges and collaborations.
Reference
[1] A novel microfluidic chip-based digital PCR method for enhanced sensitivity in the early diagnosis of colorectal cancer via mSEPT9. Clinica Chimica Acta. 2024, 117781.
[2] Hypoxia-induced circ-CDYL-EEF1A2 transcriptional complex drives lung metastasis of cancer stem cells from hepatocellular carcinoma. Cancer Letters. 2023, 216442.
About Turtle Technology
Turtle Technology is committed to leading the life sciences and molecular diagnostics into the digital era. Having been approved as the National Demonstration Center for Genetic Testing Technology and obtaining the first Digital PCR Metrological Evaluation Certificate, we have introduced a variety of digital PCR systems. This marks a comprehensive technological innovation across the entire industrial chain, including genetic testing instruments, chip consumables, Ultra-Multiplex technology, and ultra-high specificity polymerase.
