Agena Bioscience releases LungFUSION Panel for rapid identification of oncogenic ALK, RET, and ROS1 gene fusions in non-small cell lung cancer tumors. The research use only, single-well panel identifies expressed translocations of known clinical relevance in fresh frozen tissue samples and FFPE. According to an Agena Bioscience news release, the MassARRAY-based assay is designed to provide a simpler alternative to conventional screening methods such as IHC stains and FISH, both of which require high-quality samples and time-consuming protocols.
The new LungFUSION panel contains built-in controls to simultaneously assess RNA quality, determine the relative amount of lung tissue present in the sample, and report DNA contamination. The software from Agena Bioscience automatically reports translocation status for each sample and confidence score.
The Agena Bioscience news release indicates that the MassARRAY system detects genetic variation directly by end-point PCR and label-free mass spectrometry. The platform’s flexible nature and simple bioinformatics allows laboratories to develop targeted, actionable panels for routine or specialized assays for as little as tens of dollars per test.
Marisa Pearce, Agena Bioscience’s senior director, marketing, says, “Rare events in NSCLC tumor samples can be difficult or laborious to determine through optical genetic analysis techniques. The LungFUSION panel is an inexpensive, single-well assay amenable to formalin-fixed tissue and fine needle aspirates which may be of varying quality, allowing NSCLC studies to expand in sample size and confidence level within existing research budgets.”
Source: Agena Bioscience
