MSIMEP: Predicting microsatellite instability from microarray DNA methylation tumor profiles.

Deficiency in DNA MMR activity results in tumors with a hypermutator phenotype, termed microsatellite instability (MSI). Beyond its utility in Lynch syndrome screening algorithms, today MSI has gained importance as predictive biomarker for various anti-PD-1 therapies across many different tumor types. Over the past years, many computational methods have emerged to infer MSI using either DNA- or RNA-based approaches.

Did COVID-19 lockdown delay actually worsen melanoma prognosis?

Background: The COVID-19 lockdown possibly meant a delay in the diagnosis and treatment of melanoma and therefore, worsening its prognosis. This unique situation of diagnosis deferral is an exceptional opportunity to investigate melanoma biology.

Objectives: To evaluate the immediate and mid-term impact of diagnosis delay on melanoma.

Noninvasive early detection of colorectal cancer by hypermethylation of the LINC00473 promoter in plasma cell-free DNA.

Background: Current noninvasive assays have limitations in the early detection of colorectal cancer. We evaluated the clinical utility of promoter methylation of the long noncoding RNA LINC00473 as a noninvasive biomarker to detect colorectal cancer and associated precancerous lesions.

Methods: We evaluated the epigenetic regulation of LINC00473 through promoter hypermethylation in colorectal cancer cell lines using bisulfite genomic sequencing and expression analyses.