Kangbuk Samsung Medical Center

YONGIN, South Korea, Dec. 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- GC Genome, a leading clinical genomics and liquid biopsy company, announced that its study analyzing cell-free DNA (cfDNA) fragmentation patterns in 1,154 healthy individuals has been published in Clinical Chemistry (Impact Factor 6.3, 2025). The findings reveal key physiological factors that can interfere with cancer-associated cfDNA signals, offering a foundation for improving the accuracy of liquid biopsy tests. The study, conducted in collaboration with Professor Min-Jung Kwon and her team at Kangbuk Samsung Medical Center, examined correlations between cfDNA fragmentomic profiles and 65 clinical variables, including age and liver function markers. The goal was to identify potential confounders that could influence cfDNA-based cancer detection in individuals without cancer. Study Overview Healthy cohort: 1,154 noncancerous individuals who underwent routine health checkups Clinical variables included: 65 demographic, hematologic, and biochemical parameters Three fragmentomic features were derived: cfDNA concentration, short-fragment ratio (SFR), and frequency of cancer-enriched motifs(CEMs) Key Findings Liver enzymes(including AST, ALP, γ-GTP) and age were identified as major factors altering cfDNA fragmentation patterns. Elevated AST or age closely resembled cancer-like fragmentomic signatures, blurring the distinction between noncancer and cancer profiles. AST showed high similarity to fragmentation size patterns seen in lung cancer patients (cosine similarity = 0.98). Age showed the highest similarity to cancer-like profiles among clinical variables (cosine similarity = 0.52). Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis confirmed that these physiological variables can act as confounders by reducing the specificity of cfDNA-based detection, potentially leading to false-positive results. These findings demonstrate that non-cancer physiological factors can influence cfDNA signals, underscoring the need for confounder-aware modeling approaches in liquid biopsy development. A GC Genome spokesperson stated: "This study is significant because it uses large-scale data from healthy individuals to identify key confounders that influence cfDNA fragmentation patterns. These insights will play an important role in refining our Multi-Cancer Early Detection (MCED) test, ai-CANCERCH, particularly in reducing false-positive rates and improving test specificity." About ai-CANCERCH Launched in September 2023, ai-CANCERCH is an AI-based multi-cancer early detection(MCED) test powered by Lc-WGS. Using just 10 mL of blood, the test detects signals associated with multiple cancers. A major upgrade—expanding from 6 detectable cancers to 10 cancers (colorectal, lung, esophageal, liver, ovarian, pancreatic, biliary, breast, gastric, and head-and-neck)—is planned for January 2026. About GC Genome GC Genome is a leading diagnostics company that aims to connect the care and cure to the world by offering genetic diagnosis services for Oncology, Pre&Neonatal, Rare Diseases, and Health Check-ups and suggesting personalized treatment for longer and healthier lives. Established in 2013 as a GC company, GC Genome operates a CAP-accredited laboratory and places the utmost emphasis on R&D. With steadfast partnerships established worldwide, GC Genome has shown impressive growth momentum, continually expanding our testing capacities. GC Biopharma Contacts (Media) Sohee Kim [email protected] Yelin Jun [email protected] Yoonjae Na [email protected] SOURCE GC Genome

The Personal Information Protection Committee, South Korea's national data protection authority, has probed 17 university hospitals that allegedly allowed nearly 200,000 patient information to get exposed in a leak. WHAT IT'S ABOUT The PIPC acted on alleged reports of university hospitals leaking patient information to pharmaceutical companies. The case was later confirmed by the police following a search and seizure operation on the involved pharmaceutical companies. It was found that hospital staff took pictures or downloaded patient information needed for prescriptions, which were then sent via e-mail or flash drives to pharmaceutical companies. Based on the investigation, approximately 185,271 patient information, including sensitive ones, was leaked between April 2018 and January 2020. About half came from Yonsei University Severance Hospital (57,912) and St. Mary's Hospitals in Uijeongbu (20,027) and Yeouido (17,115). All but one of the 17 hospitals were found to have violated the Personal Information Protection Act for failing to ensure the safety of patient information. They were subjected to fines totalling KRW 64.8 million ($50,500). According to PIPC, for more than two years, 16 hospitals have not kept records of people who have accessed their system. They also have not amply confirmed their reasons for accessing and downloading information. Of those hospitals, Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital, Dongtan Sacred Hospital, Kangnam Sacred Hospital and Hangang Sacred Hospital have not kept access records for over three years. These four hospitals, along with Soon Chun Hyang University Hospital Seoul and Konkuk University Chungju Hospital, also did not have security measures in place for exporting and importing data via auxiliary storage devices like hard and flash drives. Additionally, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital and Korea University Guro Hospital were found to have poor security, allowing unauthorised persons to access data physically. Aside from getting fines, all 17 hospitals were also told to make the following improvements: Regularly inspect respective personal information processing systems and enforce measures to prevent future data leaks Reinforce regular training for staff involved in protecting personal information Meanwhile, the South Korean police are still conducting investigations for possible criminal liability of involved hospital and pharmaceutical company staff in the data leak. THE LARGER TREND Cybersecurity authorities in South Korea were most recently alarmed by a large-scale data breach at Seoul National University Hospital. According to the hospital, the personal information of over 800,000 people, including patients and hospital employees, has been leaked following an attack on its IT servers between May and June last year. The local police said they have traced the source of the attacks from alleged servers of North Korean hackers. ON THE RECORD "Through this investigation, we hope university hospitals are now more aware of their role in protecting patients' highly sensitive personal data. This also serves as an opportunity for them to realise the importance of training staff on managing their personal information protection systems, as well as conducting regular checks of the system to prevent future data leaks from happening," the PIPC said in a statement.

- A large Korean population study provides scientific evidence that altering the gut microbiome composition through dietary habit change can help prevent and manage the hypertension YONGIN, South Korea, June 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- GC Genome Corporation, a leading genomic diagnostics company, announced the publication of a study in Frontiers in Microbiomes. This study demonstrates the association between gut microbiome and Hypertension, underscoring the importance of the gut microbiome in relation to hypertension in collaboration with the research team at Kangbuk Samsung Hospital. It suggests that modifying dietary habits to alter enterotypes could serve as effective practical approach for managing and preventing hypertension. These findings carry potential implications for individuals seeking to improve their cardiovascular health. "Hypertension is a complex condition influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. And recent studies suggest that gut bacteria play a role in regulating blood pressure," said Ju Sun Song, MD, Senior director of the research institute at GC Genome. "This research provides the scientific evidence in the large Korean population for the first time that modifying dietary habits, such as consuming fruits, vegetables, and following a traditional Korean diet, can aid in the prevention and management of hypertension." Hypertension, commonly known as high blood pressure, is a global health concern affecting an estimated 1.13 billion individuals worldwide, as reported by the World Health Organization (WHO). It increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases, including heart disease and stroke, and poses a tremendous public health burden. South Korea, in particular, has witnessed a high prevalence of hypertension due to an aging population and the adoption of a westernized lifestyle. The number of hypertension patients surpassed 12 million in 2018 and continues to rise steadily. In this study, researchers recruited over 600 Korean patients who underwent medical checkups, and their gut microbiomes were analyzed using Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) technology. The team compared four enterotypes based on dietary habits: Prevotella, Bacteroides1, Bacteroides2, and Ruminococcaceae. The results indicated that the Bacteroides2 enterotype, characterized by high animal fat consumption and low microbial diversity, strongest associated with hypertension. Conversely, the Ruminococcaceae-dominant enterotype, linked to a higher intake of vegetables and fruits, displayed the lowest association with hypertension. Notably, these findings align with the recommendations in the 2017 hypertension clinical guidelines, which suggest increasing the consumption of vegetables, fresh fruits, fish, nuts, and unsaturated fatty acids while reducing the intake of red meat. In addition, it was also confirmed that hypertension occurring in the Bacteroides 2 enterotype had a significantly lower ratio of Faecalibacterium rather than other enterotypes. Faecalibacterium ferments dietary fiber that has reached the large intestine without being digested or absorbed, thereby producing short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) having anti-inflammatory effects and is promising beneficial bacterium that is in the spotlight as a next-generation probiotics. Therefore, the study also emphasizes the importance of considering enterotypes in clinical studies exploring hypertension interventions, such as short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) or Faecalibacterium. Further investigation is needed to fully understand the interaction of gut microbiome with the food we eat and our health. [About GC Genome] GC Genome is a leading diagnostics company that aims to connect the care and cure to the world by offering genetic diagnosis services for Oncology, Pre&Neonatal, Rare Diseases, and Health Check-ups and suggesting personalized treatment for longer and healthier lives. The company was established in 2013 as a subsidiary of the GC group, a prominent healthcare organization worldwide. GC Genome operates a CAP-accredited laboratory and places the utmost emphasis on R&D. The company has forged robust partnerships with national hospitals and universities, and has shown impressive growth momentum by steadily increasing its test volumes. This press release may contain forward-looking statements, which express the current beliefs and expectations of GC Genome's management. Such statements do not represent any guarantee by GC Genome or its management of future performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. GC Genome undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement contained in this press release or any other forward-looking statements it may make, except as required by law or stock exchange rule. Investor/Media Contact Sohee Kim [email protected] Yelin Jun [email protected] SOURCE GC Genome