OncoPanel™ High-Content Cell Line Profiling to identify biomarkers of response

by Usha Warrior, Ph.D., Eurofins Panlabs, Bothell, WA

Cancer is one of the most devastating diseases of our time−the second most common cause of death in the United States, exceeded only by cardiovascular diseases. According to the American Cancer Society 1,660,290 new cancer cases are expected to be diagnosed in 2013, and 580,350 Americans are expected to die of cancer, almost 1,600 people per day in just the U.S. alone. Cancer is a set of complex genetic diseases hallmarked by changes in the genome, where a variety of somatic alterations plays a vital role in disease initiation and progression.

Recent years have heralded a marked increase in our understanding of the genetic basis of cancer. Cancer genomics has been impacted profoundly by the application of Next-Generation Sequencing technology, which has tremendously accelerated the pace of cancer drug development. A major focus in cancer drug development is in the identification of genomic biomarkers capable of predicting sensitivity and resistance to new therapies and identifying the patient population who will be responsive for these targeted therapies.

Eurofins Panlabs has developed OncoPanel240, using a High Content Analysis (HCA) platform, to provide multiparametric drug response data, including cell proliferation, apoptosis induction and cell cycle arrest across a large panel of genomically defined cancer cell lines comprising most human cancer subtypes. The Group has developed a genomic data repository composed of internal and public genomics data on all the 240 cell lines to identify significant genomic biomarkers associated with sensitivity or resistance to the tested therapeutic and then to prioritise them based on statistical significance. The most significant biomarkers are further analysed in the context of cancer subtypes. These biomarkers can be utilised in developing diagnostic as well as pharmacodynamics markers.

Eurofins Panlabs' expertise in generating high quality data in screening small molecules, biologics and combination therapies, as well as its unique integration of profiling results with univariate genomics analysis, enables pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to identify predictive genomic biomarkers of drug response with prognostic relevance for both discovery and clinical development.

For more information contact: PanlabsPharmacology@eurofins.com