Patent ID: 7666589

Claim:
A method comprising: a) providing a plasma sample from a subject, said plasma sample comprising genomic DNA, wherein said genomic DNA comprises a plurality of promoters from different genes; b) isolating and digesting said genomic DNA with a methylation sensitive restriction enzyme under conditions such that unmethylated CpG islands in said promoters are cleaved while methylated CpG islands in said promoters are not cleaved; c) contacting said digested genomic DNA with gene specific primers, wherein said gene specific primers are configured to hybridize to said genomic DNA and amplify different promoters from different genes including DAPK, FAS, MCT1, p16, PAX5, THBS, TRANCE, and VHL, and wherein said contacting is under conditions such that fragments of said plurality of promoters comprising uncleaved CpG islands are amplified, while cleaved promoters comprising cleaved CpG islands are not amplified; and d) detecting the presence or absence of DNA methylation in each of said plurality of promoters based on the amplification, or lack of amplification, of said fragments to generate a methylation profile for said subject.