Qiagen launches new PAXgene Blood ccfDNA Tube

Qiagen has announced the launch of a new solution for venous whole blood collection and room temperature stabilisation of in-vivo circulating cell-free DNA (ccfDNA) profiles.

The PAXgene Blood ccfDNA Tube is designed for the collection, stabilisation, transport, storage and isolation of ccfDNA, and can be used in conjunction with Qiagen's own QIAamp Circulating Nucleic Acid Kit.

It offers a unique non-crosslinking reagent in the collection tube that ensures DNA remains unmodified, while also preventing post-collection release of genomic DNA from white blood cells. This improves yield recovery with less background DNA.

Most other ccfDNA stabilisation approaches contain potential formaldehyde-releasing compounds, making them unsuitable for many uses, whereas the new PAXgene tube is compatible with a wide array of downstream applications, such as non-invasive prenatal testing or methylation-based assays in cancer research.

Brad Crutchfield, senior vice-president and head of Qiagen's life sciences business, said: "Qiagen is leading the way in providing liquid biopsy solutions to take labs from sample to insight."

This comes after the firm introduced a liquid biopsy workflow for the QIAact Actionable Insights Tumour Panel last month.