Biomarker Commons

As we've done in previous years here at Biomarker Commons (AACR 2011 and AACR 2012), here's a roundup of eight research studies on cancer biomarkers that were presented last month at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting in Washington, DC.

For women with metastatic, HER2-positive breast cancer, the amount of HER2 on their tumor might determine how much they benefit from a drug called trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1), according to data from a subanalysis of the phase III clinical trial that led the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to approve the drug on Feb. 22, 2013. These findings were presented by José Baselga, M.D., Ph.D., physician-in-chief at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, N.Y., at the AACR Annual Meeting 2013, held in Washington, D.C., April 6-10.

Matrix-Bio Inc., a diagnostics company that uses metabolite profiling to detect cancer and other diseases, recently signed an exclusive global licensing and marketing agreement for metabolomic biomarkers with Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX).

A molecular signature index technology that can lead to better radiation therapy decisions for patients with cancer is being developed into a reliable radiosensitivity test by CvergenX, Inc., an advanced cancer diagnostics company. It is being done in conjunction with the National Cancer Institute’s Clinical Assay Development Program (CADP).

A new system for isolating rare circulating tumor cells (CTCs) – living solid tumor cells found at low levels in the bloodstream – shows significant improvement over previously developed devices and does not require prior identification of tumor-specific target molecules. Developed at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Center for Engineering in Medicine and the MGH Cancer Center, the device rapidly delivers a population of unlabeled tumor cells that can be analyzed with both standard clinical diagnostic cytopathology and advanced genetic and molecular technology.

GE Healthcare recently announced that Clarient Diagnostic Services, Inc., a GE Healthcare company, will begin offering a next-generation sequencing assay focused on solid tumor targets for use in clinical trials. This assay will empower researchers to perform prospective and retrospective analysis to better understand which patients will respond to particular therapies, to help stratify patient populations for ongoing clinical trials, and to aid early research efforts.