OGT Expands Commitment to Improved Cancer Profiling with CCMC Agreement

Oxford Gene Technology (OGT), provider of innovative genetics research and biomarker solutions to advance molecular medicine, announced today that it has signed a licence agreement with the Cancer Cytogenomics Microarray Consortium (CCMC) to design a whole genome, cancer-specific microarray.

The array will incorporate probes for over 500 cancer genes and 130 cancer-associated genomic regions from the CCMC’s design for haematological and solid tumours. The aim is to improve cancer research through the accurate identification of DNA copy number changes, and loss of heterozygosity associated with different cancer types.

The CCMC promotes communication and collaboration among cancer cytogenomics laboratories to foster new cancer genomic discoveries. It follows the same successful model of standardised array design and usage introduced by the International Collaboration for Clinical Genomics (ICCG)* to improve the quality of clinical research using new molecular cytogenetic technologies.

The licence agreement is founded on OGT’s recent success in the development and commercialisation of the CytoSure™ Haematological Cancer +SNP Array targeting the four common haematological cancers: Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, Multiple Myeloma, Myeloproliferative Neoplasms and Myelodysplastic Syndrome and is a further extension of the company’s work in cancer research.

As lead partner in a £1.16 million grant from the UK government-backed Technology Strategy Board, OGT is also developing a next generation sequencing tumour profiling assay, which will provide specific information about individual cancer samples to facilitate research into personalised treatment strategies. In addition, OGT has a rich portfolio of biomarkers for early stage cancer detection with advanced programmes in colorectal and prostate cancer.

Dr. Mike Evans, CEO at OGT said: “The CCMC licence agreement is an endorsement of both OGT’s expertise in gene-focused arrays and our commitment to developing accurate solutions for early cancer detection and accurate disease characterisation. We are proud to be able to contribute to the good work undertaken by the CCMC to further cancer research through increasing access to more comprehensive, accurately interpreted molecular information.”

Dr. Marilyn Li, former president of the CCMC said, “We are pleased to work with companies that share our belief in standardised, high-quality microarrays and our commitment to ensuring that colleagues can access and share vital data.”

Dr. M Anwar Iqbal, President of the CCMC added, “The use of microarray technology will substantially improve the facility of cytogenetics research laboratories to identify cancer. The CCMC board appreciates the efforts of companies such as OGT to making the CCMC cancer array design available to the cytogenetics research community worldwide.”