NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) - Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Medicine is investigating a tissue-of-origin test made by Pathwork Diagnostics that is designed to help determine the origin of a malignant tumor, the company said today.
Pathwork Diagnostics’ Tissue of Origin Test, which uses Affymetrix microarrays and is still in clinical studies, measures 1,600 genes and compares one tissue’s genetic signature against those of other tissue types.
There are around 200,000 cancer patients each year in the US who could benefit from a test that can pinpoint the origin of their malignancy.
"Such cases are time-consuming for physicians and anxiety-producing for patients, and are a challenge to providing the most appropriate care for the patient,” Catharine Dumur, director of Molecular Morphology Genomics at VCU’s Department of Pathology, said in a statement.
“We are eager to see how this investigational new genomics-based test extends and complements traditional histopathological approaches," she added.
Financial terms of the agreement were not released.