NuProbe Launches Liquid Biopsy Pan-Cancer NGS Panel
HOUSTON, Feb. 22, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — NuProbe, a genomics and molecular diagnostics company specialized in ultrasensitive sequencing panels, launches its VarMapTM Pan-Cancer NGS Panel. The VarMapTM Pan-Cancer NGS Panel uses the quantitative blocker displacement amplification (QBDA) technology to enrich, detect, and quantitate over 6500 mutations and indels in 61 clinically relevant genes. The panel can be used on cfDNA samples to detect mutations down to 0.1% variant allele frequency (VAF) using only 1 million NGS reads. The panel can also be applied to FFPE tumor samples or other cellular samples for minimum residual disease (MRD) detection, detecting mutations down to 0.01% VAF.
To find out more about the VarMapTM Pan-Cancer NGS Panel, visit: https://nuprobe.com/varmap-pancancer/
“The QBDA technology reduces the NGS sequencing depth needed for rare mutation detection by a factor of 100,” said David Zhang, Ph.D., Co-founder and Head of Innovation of NuProbe, and Associate Professor of Bioengineering at Rice University. “This allows the VarMapTM Pan-Cancer NGS Panel to accurately analyze cfDNA mutations using only 1 million reads per sample, enabling liquid biopsy analysis on instruments like the MiSeq and MiniSeq. Simultaneously, by increasing to sequencing to 20 million reads per sample, the panel is able to detect single-base mutations down to 0.01% VAF, enabling more sensitive detection of MRD.”
“In diseases like acute myeloid leukemia (AML), MRD is detectable with extremely high sensitivity for patients with specific gene fusions. However, most AML patients do not have common gene fusions, and MRD detection is much more challenging for such patients because point mutations are difficult to detect at very low variant allele fractions,” said Abhijit Patel, a member of NuProbe’s Scientific Advisory Board. “By delivering 0.01% VAF sensitivity to point mutations, the VarMapTM Pan-Cancer NGS Panel is poised to significantly improve the clinical sensitivity of MRD detection for diseases such as AML.”
The VarMapTM Pan-Cancer NGS Panel covers hotspot regions of 61 oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes most recurrent mutated across a wide variety of cancer types. Over 6500 mutations and indels listed in the COSMIC, TCGA, and OncoKB databases are covered by the panel. Recommended sample requirements for the VarMapTM Pan-Cancer NGS Panel are 20ng of cfDNA or 50ng of FFPE DNA for standard operation. For MRD, 1 µg of gDNA is recommended for detection down to 0.01% VAF. Bioinformatic software for interpreting results and making quantitative variant calls are included.
Currently, NuProbe is offering VarMapTM Pan-Cancer panels with discounted pricing to clinical partners under its Early Access Program. Please email [email protected] to apply for early access.
About NuProbe Global
NuProbe is a cutting-edge genomics and molecular diagnostics company with revolutionary molecular diagnostic technologies to improve the sensitivity of sequencing mutations and copy number variations by over 10-fold. NuProbe has sites in Houston, USA, Shanghai, China and Suzhou, China. NuProbe’s vision is to offer affordable, timely, and accurate disease state information to enable precision medicine and improve patient outcomes.
