Pharmaceutical company Roche (SIX:RO) (OTCQX:RHHBY) revealed on Tuesday the availability of the CE-marked VENTANA MMR IHC Panel that provides clinicians with a comprehensive group of immunohistochemistry (IHC) tests for patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer.

The company said the tests detect certain proteins associated with a DNA repair mechanism called mismatch repair (MMR) and aid in differentiating between sporadic colorectal cancer and probable Lynch syndrome, a hereditary form of colorectal cancer.

Lynch syndrome results in a 50 to 80% lifetime risk of developing colorectal cancer, making it important to identify the syndrome in colorectal cancer patients and at-risk family members. Identification of the syndrome may result in early detection and cancer prevention among those with the inherited mutation.

According to the company, the CE-marked VENTANA MMR IHC Panel consists of VENTANA anti-MLH1 (M1), VENTANA anti-PMS2 (A16-4), VENTANA anti-MSH2 (G219-1129), VENTANA anti-MSH6 (SP93) antibodies for the detection of mismatch repair protein deficiency as an aid in the identification of probable Lynch syndrome and VENTANA BRAF V600E (VE1) antibody as an aid to differentiate between sporadic colorectal cancer and probable Lynch syndrome.

Concurrently, the VENTANA BRAF V600E (VE1) antibody helps refine the number of patients who may receive additional testing for Lynch syndrome by aiding in the differentiation between sporadic colorectal cancer and probable Lynch syndrome in the absence of MLH1 protein expression, stated the company.

In addition, the ready-to-use VENTANA MMR IHC Panel is optimized for use with the OptiView DAB IHC Detection Kit, OptiView Amplification Kit and ancillaries on the fully-automated BenchMark GX, XT and ULTRA instruments, concluded the company.