C scanning / C-chip

1. Technical aspect

 

Normal cells are transformed into cancer cells by serial chromosomal alterations, and as the result cancer cells have unique genomic patterns compared with normal cells. In high-dose chemotherapy such as leukemia treatment, all cancer cells are expected to be eliminated.  After this treatment, recurrence of cancer cells are critical.  It can be confirmed by checking the unique chromosomal patterns of cancer cells.

2. Procedure

 

C-chip is a DNA chip designed for detecting unique chromosomal pattern in cancer cells. DNA fragments from frequently altered regions in cancer are attached to a chip. In a clinic, samples are collected from blood, bone marrow, and tumor tissues and sent to a laboratory. In a laboratory, DNA is from the sample extracted, labeled with green fluorescent dye and hybridized. To determine numerical and structural abnormalities, normal DNA labeled with red fluorescent dye is competitively hybridized as control.