Bio-synthesis Is Excited To Announce The Recent Publication Validating The Use Of BNA Oligos In A Novel Bead-base Suspension Assay

Bridged Nucleic Acids used in the bead-based suspension assay prove superior hybridization. End Quote

(1888PressRelease) July 11, 2014 - A novel bead-based suspension assay using Bridged Nucleic Acid (BNA-NC) probes for the Luminex (USA) LabScan200 flow platform was developed and validated by Shivarov et al. in 2014. This assay allows quantitative detection of DNMT3A p.R882C/H/R/S mutations. Comparison with LNA based probes revealed superior hybridization characteristics of the BNA based probes. The researchers demonstrated for the first time the benefit of BNA-NC probes coupled to fluorescently labeled beads for quantitative detection of DNMT3A R882 mutations. This type of assay has the potential to become a valuable tool for molecular diagnostics techniques used for the analysis of biological markers in genomic and proteomic research. The specific diagnosis and monitoring of diseases enables detection and evaluation of disease risks for individual patients. By analyzing the specifics of a patient's disease, molecular diagnostics offers the promise to enable and optimize personalized medicine.

Leukemia is an often malignant blood disease that has a tendency to become progressively worse. This type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow is characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells. However, the term leukemia is also used to cover a whole spectrum of diseases affecting the blood, bone marrow, and lymphoid system, all known as hematological neoplasms. Leukemia is now considered to be a treatable disease. Several hematologic malignant tumors are characterized by genomic instabilities. As identified by whole genome sequencing, these cancer types frequently have between 10,000 and 100,000 mutations in their entire genome. Mutations in the human DNA methyl transferase 3A (DNMT3A) gene have now been identified in several blood diseases. The methyl-group transferring enzyme, DNA methyltransferase 3A (DNMT3A), is one of two human de novo DNA methyltransferases essential for the regulation of gene expression and mutations. Deletions and mutations in this protein have been observed in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), myelodysplastic syndromes and myeloproliferative neoplasms. Myeloid cells represent a prominent part of local inflammatory infiltrates in the central nervous system (CNS) and appear to strongly contribute to the local inflammatory milieu and the pathological outcome of diseases involving these cells.

In 2013, Kim et al. used PCR and direct sequencing to analyze mutations of DNMT3A amino acid residue R882 in 99 acute leukemia patients, including 57 AML patients, 41 ALL patients and a single biphenotypic acute leukemia (BAL) patient. The most common immunophenotype in BAL patients is defined by the coexpression of B-lymphoid and myeloid markers and less frequently, T-lymphoid and myeloid markers. BAL has a high incidence of clonal chromosomal abnormalities, the most common being the t(9;22) (q34;q11) (Ph chromosome) and structural abnormalities involving 11q23. Recent data indicate that BAL has a negative prognosis in both children and adults and this may be related to the underlying chromosome abnormalities. The research group detected DNMT3A expression in mononuclear cells of the bone marrow in these patients and in normal individuals using real time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Approximately 17.5% (10/57) of AML patients were found to exhibit DNMT3A mutations, and four missense mutations were observed in the DNMT3A mutated AML patients, including R882 mutations and a novel single nucleotide polymorphism resulting in a M880V amino acid substitution. It is now known that somatic heterozygous mutations of the DNA methyltransferase gene DNMT3A occur frequently in acute myeloid leukemia and other hematological malignancies.

The majority (∼60%) of these affect a single amino acid, Arg882 (R882), located in the catalytic domain of the enzyme. Kim et al. demonstrated that exogenously expressed mouse Dnmt3a proteins that have the corresponding R878 mutations largely fail to mediate DNA methylation in murine embryonic stem (ES) cells but are capable of interacting with wild-type Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b. The coexpression of the Dnmt3a R878H (histidine) mutant protein resulted in inhibition of the wild-type Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b to methylate DNA in murine ES cells. In addition the expression of Dnmt3a R878H in ES cells containing endogenous Dnmt3a or Dnmt3b induced hypomethylation suggests that the DNMT3A R882 mutations, in addition to being hypomorphic, produce dominant-negative effects. The current literature suggests that the presence of DNMT3A mutations is an adverse prognosis biomarker in adult acute myeloid leukemia and that the rapid detection of DNMT3A R882 codon mutations allows for early identification of poor risk patients with acute myeloid leukemia.

Shivarov et al. set out to develop a novel bead-based suspension assay using BNA-NC probes for the LabScan200 flow platform from Luminex, (USA). The research group developed and validated a bead-based method to quantitatively detect DNMT3A p.R882C/H/R/S mutations using BNA-NC-modified probes. Comparison with probes that were modified with LNAs, a first generation bridged-nucleic acid, revealed the superior hybridization characteristics for the BNA based probes. The researchers demonstrated for the first time the practicality of BNA-NC probes coupled to fluorescently labeled beads for quantitative detection of DNMT3A R882 mutations.

For the assay, primers are designed to allow for the amplification of a DNA sequence fragment that contains the mutated sequence codon. One of the primers is labeled with biotin. First, human genomic DNA is extracted from blood. The exon 23 of the human DNMT3A gene is amplified using the selected forward and reverse primer. To determine the exact sequence, the purified and amplified DNA can be sequenced using Big Dye terminator cycle-sequencing. Next, the exon 23 DNMT3A fragments are amplified from either genomic or plasmic DNA samples using a 5'-biotinylated forward primer. Genotyping is performed with the BNA-NC modified oligonucleotide probes connected to microsphere beads, specific for the wild type or the mutant alleles, by direct hybridization. The captured DNA fragment containing biotin on its 5'-end is detected with the help of streptavidin-phycoerythrine (SAPE) in the hybridization buffer using the LabScan200 flow platform from Luminex (USA).

BNA is a six membered bridged structure with a unique N-O bond in the sugar moiety. This moiety was designed to improve duplex and triplex stability by lowering the repulsion between negatively charged phosphate backbones. These nucleic acid analogs can be easily incorporated into natural oligonucleotide strands. They provide flexibility in designing BNA/DNA and BNA/RNA hybrid oligonucleotides to satisfy the need for very high and sequence-specific hybridization with natural nucleic acids. In addition, they possess a strong nuclease-resistant property. While first generation BNA (also known as LNA) is still used in various applications, Bio-Synthesis Inc. now offers a third generation, six membered bridged 2', 4' BNA-NC which has shown to possess superior properties as compared to the earlier generation of locked nucleic acids and peptide nucleic acid.

About Bio-Synthesis, Inc.
Bio-Synthesis is a manufacturer of custom peptide synthesis, antibodies, bioconjugates, DNA, RNA, BNA, organic synthesis, gene synthesis, cloning, detection kits, cell line authentication, and a diverse number of bimolecular products for the biomedical and life-science community worldwide.

With over 30 years of experience producing custom products for both research and pharmaceutical use, Bio-Synthesis has demonstrated expertise in small and large scale synthesis using optimal processes to meet our customers' specifications. We are a U.S. based company and as such, our products are manufactured exclusively at our state-of-the-art facilities in Lewisville, Texas.

For more information, please visit www.biosyn.com.

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