Single-strand conformation polymorphism analysis to detect the p53 mutation in colon tumor samples by capillary electrophoresis

The polymerase chain reaction-single-strand conformation polymorphism (PCR- SSCP) technique is developed for the detection of point mutations in DNA sa mples, and is very useful in the research of tumors. The traditional SSCP w as carried out with slab gel electrophoresis (SGE), but this is time-consum ing and labor-intensive, particularly for clinical diagnoses. We have devel oped a capillary electrophoresis (CE) method for SSCP detection with a line ar polyacrylamide gel solution as the sieving matrix. Twenty colon tumor sa mples were detected with SSCP-CE and the point mutation in exon 7 of the p5 3 gene was found in six of the samples. Based on the sequencing results, th e accuracy of SSCP-CE was better than that of SSCP-SGE. We hope this rapid and convenient method could be applied in the clinical diagnosis of tumors soon. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science BN. All rights reserved.