Caris Life Sciences has announced it will begin offering Ambry Genetics’ 67- gene CancerNext Expanded panel to evaluate hereditary risks for cancer. That test will now be available combined with Caris’ somatic (tumor) tests that analyze a cancer’s detailed molecular makeup. In a release, Caris says this will be: “The most comprehensive, clinically relevant molecular and genetic offering on the market today to guide treatment and management of cancer.” The combined Caris and Ambry testing is already available nationwide.
“We are committed to providing clinicians with high-quality information they can use to inform treatment decisions,” said David D. Halbert, Caris Life Sciences Chairman, CEO and founder. “By partnering with Ambry Genetics to better inform patient care, we are able to provide clinicians a greater ability to learn about a cancer’s molecular composition.”
According to the National Cancer Institute, about 10% of cancers are hereditary. Inherited cancers often occur at a relativelyearly age and involve pathogenic variants in one or more genes. The most common hereditary cancer syndromes in women include hereditary breast and ovarian cancer syndrome, Lynch syndrome, Li–Fraumeni syndrome, Cowden syndrome, Peutz–Jeghers syndrome, and hereditary diffuse gastric cancer. A hereditary cancer risk assessment identifies patients and families who may be at increased risk of developing certain types of cancer.
Caris currently offers clinicians Caris Molecular Intelligence, a proprietary, comprehensive tumor profiling approach that assesses DNA, RNA, and proteins that are unique to an individual’s cancer, among other products. The Molecular Intelligence test reveals a molecular blueprint aimed to guide more precise and individualized treatment decisions.
Through the partnership, Caris will now also offer Ambry’s CancerNext-Expandedhereditary cancer panel, which analyzes 67 genes associated with an increased hereditary risk of cancer, including brain, breast, colon, ovarian, pancreatic, prostate, renal, uterine, and many other cancers. This test identifies inherited risks for cancer in order for clinicians to accurately diagnose, treat, and manage cancer risks for each patient’s needs.
“To best diagnose and treat cancer, clinicians must understand whether patients have mutations in genes associated with an increased risk for hereditary cancer,” said Aaron Elliott, Chief Executive Officer of Ambry. “Caris’ molecular tests combined with Ambry’s germline genetic testing, give clinicians the most comprehensive, clinically relevant molecular profile on the market to guide treatment and management.”
“Being able to simultaneously conduct comprehensive tumor genomic testing and multi-gene germline sequencing is invaluable, especially for sick patients at the beginning of their cancer journey,” said Michael J. Hall, M.D., and chair, Department of Clinical Genetics at Fox Chase Cancer Center. “This is information I can immediately begin using for my patients to more accurately diagnose them and to better individualize their treatments.”
In further news from Caris, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) updated their treatment guidelines for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC), which stress the importance of RNA profiling and note DNA-based next-generation sequencing may under-detect NTRK1 and NTRK3 fusions. Caris offers a suite of molecular profiling offerings, including whole transcriptome sequencing with MI Transcriptome which they say “…provides the most comprehensive and unique RNA analysis available and covers all 22,000 genes.”
