Best practices for the extraction of genomic DNA from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tumor tissue for cancer genomic profiling tests

Recently, two cancer genomic profiling tests have been approved in Japan and implemented in routine clinical practice: the FDA-approved FoundationOne CDx test, and the OncoGuide NCC Oncopanel test. The quality and quantity of DNA significantly affects the sequencing results; therefore, preparing a sufficient amount of high-quality DNA for clinical cancer genomic profiling tests is important. We examined the best practices for the extraction of cancer genomic DNA from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tumor tissues of pancreatic, lung and colon cancer specimens. We found that the quality of cancer genomic DNA extracted from 10-μm-thick FFPE samples improved significantly, compared with that from 4-μm-thick FFPE samples, suggesting that 10-μm-thick FFPE samples are preferable for clinical cancer genomic profiling tests. For convenience, we created a quick reference table for calculating the required number of FFPE slides.