NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – The National Cancer Institute has approved a proposal by the genetic analysis and services company Transgenomic to do mutational analysis and sequencing on mitochondrial genes in the NCI 60 panel of cancer cell lines, the company announced today.
The collaboration between NCI and Omaha, Neb.-based Transgenomic is expected to be the first comprehensive evaluation of the mitochondrial genome in this cell panel, which has been used to test compounds in NCI’s pharmacological database.
Transgenomic said the work may provide clues about early disease states and insights into some cancer treatments and diagnostics, since mitochondrial damage can be an early warning sign for some types of cancer.
“This collaboration makes it possible to test whether in vitro responses to anti-cancer agents are linked to alterations in the mitochondrial genome and can be detected with our sensitive mutation detection technology,” Transgenomic Chief Scientific Officer Eric Kaldjian said in a statement.