Almac collaborates in colorectal cancer research
Almac Diagnostics has embarked upon a collaborative study with Pfizer and the PETACC3 Translational Research Working Party (PTRW), which involves gene expression profiling of formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) samples from the Pan-European Trials in Adjuvant Colon Cancer (PETACC 3) trial using Almac's colorectal cancer DSA research tool to identify molecular subtypes, biomarkers and drug targets.
Almac Diagnostics has embarked upon a collaborative study with Pfizer and the PETACC3 Translational Research Working Party (PTRW), which involves gene expression profiling of formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) samples from the Pan-European Trials in Adjuvant Colon Cancer (PETACC 3) trial using Almac's colorectal cancer DSA research tool to identify molecular subtypes, biomarkers and drug targets.
Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer diagnosed in both men and women in the US and Europe and is the second most common cause of cancer mortality in both sexes.
The samples to be used in the study are taken from the PETACC 3 study, an international randomised, prospective trial of adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with stage II and III colon cancer.
Professor Paul Harkin, president and md of Almac Diagnostics, said: "As understanding grows of the heterogeneity of cancer, it is becoming increasingly clear that molecular subtypes are important both in patients" prognosis and in predicting their response to chemotherapy. This has already been shown in breast cancer, and the study to be led by Almac, Pfizer and PTRW aims to examine this in colorectal cancer."
The aims of the study are to identify molecular subtypes in colorectal cancer and to identify new drug targets in treatment-resistant patients.
