1 September 2017 - - US-based life sciences company Thermo Fisher Scientific has formed the Immuno-Oncology Consortium to drive adoption of highly sensitive, next-generation sequencing clinical research panels designed to help identify predictive and prognostic biomarkers associated with cancer immunotherapy, the company said.
Recognizing this shift toward a multi-targeted approach to detect a broad set of gene variants with a single panel, the company has also launched the Ion AmpliSeq Immune Repertoire Assay Plus, TCR beta and expanded its portfolio of liquid biopsy assays for analysis of cell-free nucleic acid in lung and breast cancer.
Led in collaboration with Dr. Sabine Merkelbach-Bruse from the Institute of Pathology of the University of Cologne, the Immuno-Oncology Consortium brings together a prestigious group of clinical researchers from renowned institutions in Europe.
The consortium will initially spearhead efforts to validate Thermo Fisher's previously launched Oncomine Immune Response Research Assay with the expectation to extend studies with the new immune repertoire assay and an application to interrogate tumor mutational burden currently under development by Thermo Fisher.
The Ion Torrent Oncomine Lung Cell-Free Total Nucleic Acid (cfTNA) Research Assay has been designed to include fusion markers associated with lung cancer, including ALK, RET and ROS1, in addition to DNA, RNA hotspots, copy number variants and MET exon 14 skipping.
The Ion Torrent Oncomine Breast cfDNA Research Assay has also been updated. Version 2 now includes new CNVs, more complete coverage of key tumor suppressor gene TP53 and additional SNVs and indels.
From a single tube of blood, researchers can use the assays to detect primary tumor drivers and mutations known to cause therapeutic resistance down to 0.1% limit of detection.
Thermo Fisher Scientific has revenues of USD 18 bn and more than 55,000 employees globally. The company helps its customers accelerate life sciences research, solve complex analytical challenges, improve patient diagnostics, and increase laboratory productivity.