Isolation and detection of DNA from plasma

1. A method of processing a plasma sample, the method comprising:

a) combining a plasma sample with

i) protease;

ii) a first portion of guanidine thiocyanate;

iii) a first portion of non-ionic detergent; and

iv) bulk fish DNA diluent,

to form a first mixture wherein proteins are digested by said protease;

b) to the first mixture adding

v) silica particles;

vi) isopropyl alcohol;

vii) a second portion of guanidine thiocyanate; and

viii) a second portion of non-ionic detergent,

to form a second mixture under conditions wherein DNA is bound to said silica particles;

c) separating silica particles with bound DNA from the second mixture;

d) to the separated silica particles with bound DNA adding a first wash solution, said first wash solution comprising guanidine hydrochloride or guanidine thiocyanate, and ethyl alcohol;

e) separating the silica particles with bound DNA from said first wash solution;

f) to the separated silica particles with bound DNA adding a second wash solution, said second wash solution comprising a buffer and ethyl alcohol;

g) separating the washed silica particles with bound DNA from said second wash solution;

h) eluting DNA from said washed silica particles with bound DNA to produce an isolated DNA sample.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein steps f)-g) are repeated 1 to 3 additional times prior to step h).

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first portion and the second portion of non-ionic detergent are the same or different, and are selected from the group consisting of polyethylene glycol sorbitan monolaurate (Tween-20), octylphenoxypolyethoxyethanol (Nonidet P-40), and octylphenoxy poly(ethyleneoxy) ethanol, branched (IGEPAL CA-630).

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said protease is Proteinase K protease.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising a step after step g) and prior to step h) of drying the washed silica particles with bound DNA.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein in the mixture of step a), further the bulk fish DNA diluent comprises a synthetic methylated DNA comprising a zebrafish DNA nucleotide sequence.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein said synthetic methylated DNA comprising a zebrafish DNA nucleotide sequence comprises a zebrafish Ras association domain (RalGDS/AF-6) family 1 (RASSF1) sequence.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein said plasma sample has a volume of at least 2 mL.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein said first portion of guanidine thiocyanate and said first portion of non-ionic detergent are added to the plasma sample together as a first lysis reagent comprising about 4.3 M guanidine thiocyanate and 10% w:v IGEPAL CA-630 and/or wherein said second portion of guanidine thiocyanate and said second portion of non-ionic detergent are added to the first mixture together as a second lysis reagent comprising 4.3 M guanidine thiocyanate and 10% w:v IGEPAL CA-630 combined with isopropyl alcohol.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein said first wash solution comprises about 3 M guanidine hydrochloride or 3 M guanidine thiocyanate and about 57% ethyl alcohol and/or said second wash solution comprises about 80% ethyl alcohol and about 20% 10 mM Tris pH 8.0 buffer.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising analyzing said isolated DNA sample for multiple target nucleic acids, comprising:

a) treating said isolated DNA sample with bisulfite to produce a bisulfite treated DNA sample;

b) treating said bisulfite-treated DNA sample to an amplification reaction under conditions wherein a plurality of different target regions, if present in said sample, are amplified to form a pre-amplified mixture;

c) partitioning said pre-amplified mixture into a plurality of different detection assay reaction mixtures; and

d) conducting a plurality of detection assays with said detection assay reaction mixtures, wherein said plurality of different target regions, if present in said sample at step a), are detected in one or more of said plurality of different detection assay reaction mixtures.