New cell-type deconvolution method for saliva created, now undergoing scientific validation

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Oct 01, 2021, 07:00 ET

LEXINGTON, Ky., Oct. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, TruDiagnostic announced their newest research project; expanding and validating a new cellular deconvolution method to separate epithelial cells from immune cells in saliva samples.

Saliva is an easy tissue to access, and contains both epithelial and immune cells. Additionally, the public is more familiar with using saliva for research purposes, compared to blood.

Cell-type deconvolution is used to estimate the ratios of different cell types collected in a single sample. It allows a more accurate examination of the unique changes happening in isolated cell types.

A DNA methylation matrix is a way to identify the locations on the DNA where methylation can occur, methylation values, and cell types within a sample. This matrix model, when accurate, can be used as a reference guide for cell-type deconvolution.

TruDiagnostic and external research partners worked together to create a new DNA methylation matrix. So far, it has proven very accurate in predicting the true cell-type fractions of independent samples when examining 2 cell types.
Importantly, performance remained robust with different technologies, like Stem-Cell-Matrix Compendium-2 (SCM2), 450k technology, BLUEPRINT, and EPIC technology.

"Almost all epigenetic algorithms have been created via blood cell datasets, which is why blood tissue is widely used for accurate methylation detection and quantification. However, even in blood, measurements can be highly variable if the different types of immune cell subsets are not controlled for during the analysis," says Dr. Dwaraka, Head of Bioinformatics at TruDiagnostic.

"This is where cell deconvolution methods are so vital. They let us control for these variables during analysis. Saliva epigenetic samples face the same problem, with more variables due to a greater number of epithelial cell types. We created this saliva deconvolution method to accurately control for these cell quantities, which can change with age and lifestyle. This is a critical step to ensure the innovations created from blood methylation can also be applied to Saliva tissue samples."

TruDiagnostic is now working on developing this matrix further, to create and validate a saliva DMRM for 8 cell-types. The 8 cell-type reference would estimate fractions for all 7 immune cell subtypes, plus the epithelial cell fraction. This would allow a closer examination of methylation of immune cell types and give more useful clinical data from each saliva sample.

Contact TruDiagnostic LLC:
Hannah Went
937-570-0471
[email protected]

SOURCE TruDiagnostic