Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC's Rohit Bhargava and colleagues report in Modern Pathology that "immunohistochemistry is preferable to qRT-PCR for determination of estrogen and [progesterone receptor] expression." The researchers analyzed 464 breast cancer cases for ER and PR status using both immunohistochemistry and Genomic Health's Oncotype DX assay. They found good correlation between both approaches, though they write that immunohistochemistry was slightly more sensitive. "Immunohistochemistry offers additional advantages such as lower expense, ease of use, and faster turnaround time, the researchers say, later adding that "as qRT-PCR requires tissue microdissection and grinding for analysis, samples are inherently at risk for contamination with normal ductal breast tissue, fibroadipose tissue, inflammatory cells, biopsy cavities, and in situ carcinoma.

Also in Modern Pathology, researchers led by Oncolytics Biotech's Matthew Coffey examine the correlation between reovirus infection and cancer cell death. Using RT in situ PCR, the researchers found that, in patients treated with reovirus, most cancer cells harbored the viral genome. Further, they report that related cancer cell death is due to viral inhibition of microRNA-let-7d. "A key reason reovirus may be effective in destroying cancer cells is that the productive viral infection basically functions as an acute 'anti-microRNA' therapy," Coffey and colleagues write. "That is, the proliferating viral genome can acutely and markedly reduce microRNA-let-7d that, in turn, bypasses the normal 'caspase-apoptosis cascade' by markedly increasing the expression of caspase-3, that is the principle caspase responsible for the apoptotic death of these cancer cells."

Researchers at Catharina Hospital in The Netherlands report in Clinical Chemistry that variations in cardiac troponin levels determined by new, highly sensitive assays can identify emergency room patients with acute myocardial necrosis. They examined short-term differences in cardiac troponin in emergency department patients using Roche Diagnostics' high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T assay and Siemens Diagnostics' sensitive cTnI assay. "The short-term variations and IIs of cardiac troponin were low in ED patients free of ischemic myocardial necrosis," they report, adding that they advise using cut-off values of 8 ng/L for the hs-TnT assay and 17 ng/L for the cTnI assay. "With the use of this approach," the team adds, "the time between arrival and appropriate management may be shortened and the strain on ED capacity decreased."

Also in Clinical Chemistry, Kai Wollert from Hannover Medical School in Germany and colleagues discuss their use of expression cloning to find a prognostic biomarker for acute coronary syndrome. The researchers developed an expression screen to look for genes that encode activators of the GDF15 promoter. GDF15 is a stress-response cytokine whose expression is linked to prognosis in acute coronary syndrome. From their screen, the researchers found that secreted protein follistatin-like 1, or FSTL1, induces GDF15 expression and is independent biomarker for ACS prognosis. "Our study is the first to use expression cloning for biomarker discovery upstream of a gene of interest, a strategy that will be applicable outside the specific example provided here," they add.

Researchers led by Brown University's Anubhav Tripathi present their simple method for amplifying, and detecting, RNA targets, or SMART, in the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics. SMART relies on mirofluidics and a modified nucleic acid sequence-based amplification approach. Using a synthetic influenza target, Tripathi and his team demonstrated that the SMART assay could capture its target. "This platform is clinically relevant, given that the probes presented were based on sequences shown to hybridize to full-length influenza A H5 vRNA," the researchers write. "Additionally, because of the flexibility of the amplifiable probe sequence, this method can easily be used for detection of any number of RNA targets."

Also in the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics, George Yousef from St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto and his colleagues report that miR-21 can be used to tell clear cell and papillary renal cell carcinoma apart from chromophobe renal cell carcinoma and oncocytoma. Using real-time quantitative RT-PCR with miR-21-specific probes, Yousef and his colleagues examined miR-21 expression in subtypes of renal cell carcinoma as well as in healthy kidneys. "Our results show that miR-21 is up-regulated in clear cell and papillary subtypes of RCC compared with healthy kidney and benign renal tumors," the authors say, later adding that miR-21 is also a prognostic marker in renal cell carcinoma.

Since the end of 2010, the MIT Medical Lab has been undergoing renovations, and its newly re-done space has passed inspections and is open, according to MIT News. While the disruption was hardly noticed by patients, lab manager Jane Sylvester says that lab workers had to make trips from one side of the street to the other to bring samples from the phlebotomists — who remained in a space near to the lab undergoing renovations — to the temporary lab. "Delivering samples was part of going to lunch," Sylvester tells MIT News. For rush samples, she adds, "phlebotomists would bring the sample right over if they could get away, or a lab tech would run over to pick it up. Often they'd end up doing a handoff in the middle of the street."

The renovated lab has new equipment and an additional 10 square feet of bench space; the lab can also increase the number of tests it offers.

GenMark Diagnostics has revised its revenue estimates for the second quarter of 2012 and for the calendar year, the company says in a press release. For the second quarter, the company now projects it will have between $3.2 million and $3.6 million in revenue for Q2 and more that $15 million for the full year. In a statement, company President and CEO Hany Massarany attributes this increase to increased test utilization and "anticipated growth from near-term future menu.

The Sample's sister publication GenomeWeb Daily News has more here.

The Ottawa Hospital is looking to move into personalized medicine with a new molecular diagnostics lab, reports The Ottawa Citizen. The lab is still in the planning stage and the hospital needs to raise seed money, but the hospital says such a lab would bring DNA sequencing closer to being part of standard patient care. "This is a very realistic vision, and I want Ottawa to be positioned as a provincial centre of excellence for molecular diagnostics," says Paula Doering, the hospital's vice president of clinical programs.