OGT Launches New Solid Tumour Profiling Service to Predict Patient Response to Cancer Treatment

Oxford Gene Technology (OGT), provider of innovative genetics research and biomarker solutions to advance molecular medicine, has furthered its commitment to fighting cancer with the launch of a new solid tumor profiling next-generation sequencing service to advance vital research into personalized cancer care. OGT is the first commercial facility in the UK to offer this service.

OGT’s SureSeq™ Solid Tumor Panel Sequencing Service profiles the mutations of patient tumors for 58 cancer-associated genes prioritized by Cancer Research UK and leading cancer researchers. The genes include those important in breast, prostate, ovarian, lung and colorectal cancers, many with currently actionable mutations. OGT also offers researchers the flexibility to further customize the panel by adding additional genes of interest.

The panel of 58 genes was developed in collaboration with researchers at the Salisbury and Birmingham NHS Regional Genetics Laboratories as part of a £1.16 million funding award from the UK Government-backed Technology Strategy Board’s Stratified Medicines programme. The ultimate aim of the programme is to improve patient care and achieve significant cost savings over the single gene tests currently available. OGT has applied its extensive expertise in probe design to Agilent’s industry-leading SureSelect™ hybridization methodology, to deliver an assay with unparalleled uniformity of targeted sequence enrichment, excellent accuracy and sensitivity of variant detection across full genes, and robust performance with FFPE samples. All results are delivered in a comprehensive interactive web-based report to enable informed interpretation of results.

Dr Mike Evans, CEO at OGT said: “We are committed to tackling cancer by developing tools for cancer research, such as biomarkers for early detection and tumor profiling assays, such as SureSeq. This comprehensive, full-gene assay allows clinical researchers to accurately identify known and de novo mutations, enabling the development of informed, personalized cancer treatment strategies. We are proud to be working alongside the Technology Strategy Board and NHS in order to revolutionize cancer profiling and treatment.”

The project partners, including Salisbury and Birmingham NHS Regional Genetics Laboratories, validated the tumor profiling assay with fresh, frozen and formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) samples. In a blind study of previously genotyped clinical samples, the assay accurately detected all variants present. Through expert probe design by OGT and improved uniformity of sequence enrichment, the assay also delivered an improved likelihood of variant discovery across all regions of the genes, enabling the detection of low-frequency somatic variants in heterogeneous cancer samples.

Dr Alasdair Gaw, Lead Technologist, Stratified Medicine at the UK’s innovation agency, the Technology Strategy Board said: “We are pleased with the progress made by OGT and its partners in the development of this new tumor profiling assay. We are confident that the implementation of such assays will significantly advance our understanding of cancer, enabling stratified medicine and the development of personalized cancer treatment regimes that will significantly improve patient care.”