Abstract
Assays for detecting somatic mutations are requested with higher sensitivity and more convenience. Here, we describe snapback primer mediated allele clamping enrichment polymerase chain reaction (SPACE-PCR), a novel form of PCR that amplifies minority alleles selectively from mixtures. We replaced regular PCR with SPACE-PCR before sequencing or genotyping assays to improve mutation detection sensitivity by up to 100-fold in detecting EGFR and KRAS somatic mutations. Combined SPACE-PCR with analysis of snapback primer by high resolution melting (SPACE-HRM), the high sensitive system that enables a closed-tube detection of mutations after isolating mutants has been established, as low as 1/10(5)-1/1000 mutant samples can be diagnosed. And finally, in a double-blind experiment of 150 cases of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients, compared with direct DNA sequencing and ADX-EGFR/KRAS mutation detection kit, up to 25% of the PCR-direct sequencing negative cases turned out to be positive in SPACE-HRM mutation tests; the specificity is 100%. Results demonstrated that the SPACE-HRM system we set up is a high sensitive assay that can be used for EGFR and KRAS allele enrichment and reliable detection. We anticipate that the method will be employed in multiple applications in the clinic, including diagnosis, scanner recurrence monitoring, and treatment management.