Identification of APC gene mutations in colorectal cancer using universal microarray-based combinatorial sequencing-by-hybridization

Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) is an autosomal dominant inherited form of colorectal cancer, caused mostly by mutations in the APC gene (OMIM#175100). Due to the wide variety of mutations found and the large size of the APC gene, several methods of mutation detection are used, which can be time consuming and costly. Here we demonstrate a new method of mutation detection in the APC gene using an array-based approach termed combinatorial sequencing by hybridization (cSBH). In cSBH, a universal probe set is attached to a support and a second one is in solution. Two-probe ligation occurs when a DNA strand from the target PCR product consecutively anneals to both unlabeled array-bound and solution-phase, dye-labeled probe, creating all target-complementary long labeled probes attached to the surface. A standard array reader scores fluorescent signals at each array position. Cell lines and patient DNA with known APC gene mutations were analyzed using cSBH based HyChipTM product. Results show this universal 6-mer chip can successfully detect a range of mutations. Results are very robust for a continuous readout of 3.6 kb from a PCR target, with 99.97% accuracy on a single HyChipTM slide. cSBH is a fast, cost-efficient method for first stage mutation screening in the APC or any other gene