NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Ambry Genetics announced today that it has signed an agreement with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, the University of Pittsburgh, and HonorHealth Research Institute to conduct a prospective multi-site research study on germline mutation prevalence in pancreatic cancer patients with a hereditary predisposition to the disease.
"Understanding the frequency and spectrum of germline mutations in patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer may have profound implications for treatment as well as screening and prevention opportunities for their relatives," Nadine Muskatel Tung, a principal investigator at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, said in a statement.
Ambry's CancerNext NGS and array CGH test will be used to analyze 32 cancer susceptibility genes, including BRCA1, BRCA2, and TP53.
The partners have begun to enroll participants at two sites: male and female patients between the ages of 18 and 89, diagnosed within the previous 12 weeks with histologically or cytologically confirmed PDAC Stage I to IV.
Financial and other terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Ambry recently opened a new "Super Lab," allowing it to triple the number of tests it processes daily. Analyses of larger cancer panels, which used to take between 12 and 16 weeks, now have a turnaround time of 14 to 21 days, the company told GenomeWeb in June.