Ultrasensitive detection of neuronal DNA using genome-wide non-CG methylation patterns

Neurons show 100-fold higher non-CpG (CpH) methylation than other tissues, enabling detection of neuronal cfDNA at proportions as low as 20 parts per million.

• Why it matters: Liquid biopsies can trace tissue origins of cfDNA, but sensitivity is limited by the small number of cell-type-specific CpG markers.
• What they did: The study used a computational criterion to find cfDNA molecules with clusters of methylated CpA sites, then applied it to 231 samples from 163 individuals.
• The result: Neuronal cfDNA was minimal in healthy plasma, elevated in measles or acute neurological conditions, very high in brain-dead donors, and highest in cerebrospinal fluid from neurological intensive care unit patients.

AI summary of the abstract · may contain errors · not medical advice · read the paper.