DRUG DISCOVERY AND DEVELOPMENT 23
gene-based molecular assays for the prediction of cancer (www.
medicalnewstoday.com/info/ cancer-oncology) recurrence, has announced the positive results of the first external validation study of its OncoDefender-CRC colorectal cancer (
www.medicalnewstoday. com/articles/
155598.php) recurrence test.
Recurrence risk Te study is being conducted by Mayo Validation Support Services and coordinated with investigators and resources from all three Mayo Clinic sites. Te study demonstrates that the OncoDefender-CRC assay can accurately predict individual recurrence risk in stage I and II colorectal cancer patients.
“One of the most pressing challenges for physicians who treat colorectal cancer is the early identification of patients who are at risk of recurrence and could potentially benefit from prophylactic post- surgical chemotherapy,” said Lisa A Boardman, associate professor
of medicine, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and principal study investigator. “Te study’s objective is to develop an effective tool to guide treatment decisions and for identifying those patients most likely to benefit from adjuvant therapy following surgical resection of tumor tissue.”
Among the key performance indicators of the study, patients who were identified as high risk by the OncoDefender-CRC assay had a significantly higher probability of recurrence within 36 months than patients identified as low risk.
“Te OncoDefender-CRC test equips physicians with critical data about the genetic properties of a tumour, which when used in conjunction with standard pathological tests, enables clinicians to make better individualised treatment decisions for high-risk patients, while minimising the exposure of low-risk patients to unnecessary, costly and potentially toxic chemotherapy and
radiotherapy,” said Peter F Lenehan, chief medical officer of Everist Genomics and principal study investigator.
Meanwhile Compendia Bioscience has entered a new strategic partnership with Althea Diagnostics, the first outcome of which is the joint breast cancer segregation panel assay and analysis service.
Te panel measures 96 genes that represent key molecular variability of breast cancer (
www.medicalnewstoday.com/ articles/
37136.php) and have been derived from a proprietary meta-analysis of cancer (www.
medicalnewstoday.com/info/cancer- oncology) genomic profiles from more than 5000 clinical samples. Te assay has been optimised by Althea Diagnostics to measure the genes using quantitative RT-PCR from FFPE samples to enable rapid translation to real-world clinical settings.
Compendia Bioscience will analyse
the data generated by the assay and will perform correlation studies to end-points of interest such as drug response. Tis will allow for development of multiple drug- specific companion diagnostics from a standardised platform.
“Tis addresses a critical concern,” said Scott Tomlins, a scientific advisor from the University of Michigan. “Clinicians could soon become overwhelmed by the number of molecular diagnostics entering the market, each requiring precious tissue samples. A standard assay that could be used to address a number of different clinical questions will be highly valuable to the field. We are hopeful that future studies will prove the utility of Compendia’s approach.”
Assay development Te companies have also announced that they plan to develop similar assays for other cancer disease types. Tey have begun development of a colon segregation panel assay, which will be available later in 2011.
Exact Graphs and Data Analysis Circle 23 or ✔ at
www.scientistlive.com/eurolab
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44