Quantitative analysis of serum cell-free DNA as a predictive and prognostic marker in breast cancer patients.

Introduction: According to the GLOBOCAN (Global Cancer Observatory) 2020 report, 13,028 new cases of breast cancer (19%) were diagnosed in the United States, and 6,783 of them succumbed to the disease, making it the most common cancer among women. The clinical stage at the time of diagnosis is one of the most significant survival predictors in breast cancer. With delayed illness detection comes a lower survival rate. The prognosis of breast cancer may be predicted using circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA), a non-invasive diagnosis technique. Objective: This study aimed to determine the most sensitive and effective method for detecting changes in cfDNA levels and for using cfDNA as a diagnostic and prognostic marker of breast cancer. Methods: The potential function of serum cfDNA levels as a marker for early breast cancer diagnosis was investigated using UV spectrophotometric, fluorometric, and real-time qPCR assays. Results: This research suggests that the most successful way to measure the amount of cfDNA described decades ago could be used as a "liquid biopsy" to track cancer in real time. The RT-qPCR (ALU115) method produced the most statistically significant results (p=0.000). At the threshold concentration of 395.65 ng/ml of cfDNA, the ROC curve reflects the maximum AUC= 0.7607, with a sensitivity of 0.65 and specificity of 0.80. Conclusion: For a preliminary assessment of total circulating cfDNA, a combination of all of the above techniques will be most efficacious. Based on our results, we conclude that the RT-qPCR technique combined with fluorometric measurement can identify a statistically significant difference in cfDNA levels between cohorts of breast cancer patients and healthy controls.

Coexisting stable patterns in a reaction-diffusion system with reversible Gray-Scott dynamics.

It is unlikely that a dissipative reaction-diffusion system exhibits static domains composed of different pattern elements. So far as we know, there is only one exception in the energy conserving system: the generalized Swift-Hohenberg (GSH) system [M'F. Hilali, Phys. Rev. E 51, 2049 (1995)]. Our paper reports that both a spot-domain and a line-domain coexist in a dissipative reaction-diffusion system with the reversible Gray-Scott dynamics. The system has the features that a local perturbation induces the self-rearrangement of the pattern elements and/or self-replication of spots. These features and controllability of the pattern are different from those in the GSH system.