LGC eBook - 2017 - 16

Accelerating Science Using Integrated PCR Tools * PCR Shows Off Its Clinical Chops

background of wild-type DNA that comes from
normal tissue. BEAMing can detect one mutant
molecule in a background of 5,000 wild-type
molecules in clinical samples," stated Andrew
Allen, Ph.D., CMO, Clovis Oncology.
In the studies, the EGFR-resistance mutation
T790M could be identified in plasma 81% of the
time that it was seen in the matched patient tumor
biopsy. Additionally, about 10% of patients in the
study had a T790M mutation in plasma that was
not identified in tissue, presumably because of
tumor heterogeneity. Another 5-10% of the
patients did not provide an EGFR result, usually
because the tissue biopsy had no tumor cells.
In aggregate, these results suggest that plasma
EGFR testing can be a valuable complement to
tumor testing in the clinical management of NSCLC

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| GENengnews.com

patients, and can provide an alternative when a
biopsy is not available. Tumor biopsies may provide
only limited tissue, if in fact any tissue is available,
for molecular analysis. Also, mutations may be
missed due to tumor heterogeneity. These
mutations may be captured by sampling the
blood, which acts as a reservoir for mutations
from all parts of a patient's tumor burden.
In the last few years, a panoply of clinically
actionable driver mutations have been
identified for NSCLC, including mutations
in EGFR, BRAF, and HER2, as well as ALK,
ROS, and RET rearrangements. These
driver mutations will migrate NSCLC
molecular diagnostic testing in the next few
years toward panel testing of relevant cancer
genes using various digital technologies,
including next-generation sequencing. n
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LGC eBook - 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of LGC eBook - 2017
