NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Cancer Genetics today said that it will collaborate with a researcher at Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California to identify genomic markers of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.
The Rutherford, NJ-based firm said that it will work with Keck pathologist Imran Siddiqi to identify and evaluate prognostic markers for the disease.
Cancer Genetics already has developed a genomic test, MatBA-DLBCL, that offers prognosis of DLBCL based on genomic copy number changes. It said that the collaboration with Siddiqi will aim to uncover and evaluate additional copy number changes that can serve as prognostic markers.
"We have an urgent clinical need for practical, robust assays that allow reproducible molecular subclassification and prognostic stratification of these diseases," Siddiqi said in a statement. "Through this collaboration with [Cancer Genetics], we hope to evaluate the clinical utility of their genome-wide panel of aberrations in our cohort of DLBCL patients. In a broader sense, our studies may provide biological insights for this disease in diverse patient populations."
Cancer Genetics noted that DLBCL is the most common aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma, accounting for approximately 40 percent of all B-cell malignancies. There are around 20,000 new cases of DLBCL diagnosed in the US each year, the firm added.