Advanced high density prognosis tissue arrays used
to predict tamoxifen response; Results presented at AACR
meeting in Los Angeles Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Los Angeles, AACR Booth #1759, April 17, 2007--Tristar
Technology Group of Rockville, MD today announced results of a
genetic study could have major implications in the treatment of
breast cancer.
The research, carried out using TriStar’s high throughput tissue
analysis platform and conducted by its collaborator, the University
Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Germany, discovered that a
fifth of women with breast cancer carry extra copies of a particular
gene (ESR1) — a finding that could, one day, lead to personalized
treatment for the potentially deadly disease.
The study (published on-line in Nature Genetics on April
8, 2007) "Estrogen receptor alpha (ESR1) gene amplification is
frequent in breast cancer and predicts response to tamoxifen",
co-authored by Ronald Simon, UKE’s/TriStar’s Head of Molecular
Pathology and Guido Sauter, TriStar’s Co-Founder and Chief
Scientific Officer, found that 20 percent of breast cancer patients
carry extra copies of a gene called ESR1 (estrogen receptor alpha),
and that such patients are more likely to respond positively to the
widely-used estrogen blocking drug tamoxifen than are patients who
do not carry extra copies of the gene.
"The findings of this study could lead to genetic tests to
determine when and whether tamoxifen should be prescribed as an
effective breast cancer treatment," said Simon. "The findings also
suggest that tamoxifen might, one day, replace or diminish the need
for chemotherapy in some women."
Sauter commented, "Because the gene is amplified in women with
certain pre-cancerous conditions, tamoxifen might also help prevent
breast cancer from developing in women showing its early signs."
Milan Bhagat, TriStar’s president, added, "We are very pleased
that the UKE team was able to leverage the unique capabilities of
TriStar’s high throughput tissue analysis platform and our
corresponding library of tissue samples to rapidly generate accurate
data relating the frequency of ESR1 amplification to prognosis and
response to tamoxifen. This further validates the fact that our
unique, high density prognosis arrays can rapidly and effectively be
used to generate immensely valuable intellectual property early in
the drug discovery process."
The TriStar high throughput tissue analysis platform enables
researchers to rapidly screen genes against thousands of tissue
samples, representing numerous types of cancers, to identify genetic
markers, validate drug targets that cause disease and correlate
clinical (prognosis) data thereby accelerating the development of
new and safer drugs.
About the Study:
Using Affymetrix 10K SNP array to screen for gene copy number
changes in breast cancer tissues collected from patients in Germany
and Switzerland, the researchers detected amplification of the ESR1
gene. They then conducted high-density tissue microarray analysis on
more than 2000 micro arrayed clinical breast cancer samples from
TriStar’s repository, and found amplification in more than 20 per
cent of breast cancers. Ninety-nine per cent of tumors with ESR1
amplification showed estrogen receptor protein over-expression,
compared with 66.7 per cent cancers without such amplification.
In a subsequent study of 175 breast cancer patients who received
tamoxifen, survival was significantly higher in those individuals
with ESR1 amplified cancers than in those with ER (protein) positive
cancers without amplification. An additional finding—of ESR1
amplification in benign and pre-cancerous breast diseases-- suggests
that ESR1 amplification may be a common mechanism in breast disease
and an early genetic alteration in many types of breast cancer.
Study researchers will present their results (and will be
available for interview) at a poster session at the meeting of the
American Association of Cancer Research in Los Angeles, April 17,
8:00 AM-12:00 PM, Late Breaking Poster Session 1, Exhibition Hall,
Los Angeles Convention Center, Poster LB-163. They will also be
available at Booth 1759 before and after the poster session.
For a press copy of the study, please call or email one of the
contacts listed below.
About Tri-Star Technology Group
Rockville, MD based TriStar Technology Group, LLC offers one of
the world's largest commercially available repositories of
high-density formalin fixed and frozen human tissue micro arrays
(1400 - 3500 patient samples per array, over 50,000 micro arrayed
specimens). Comprehensive, annotated clinical information on
prognosis and treatment as well as IHC/FISH data on 25 molecular
markers is available. TriStar provides large-scale in-vitro target
validation using high-density multi-tumor, normal tissue and
cancer-specific prognosis arrays on a fee-for service basis to
pharmaceutical & diagnostic companies. The technology for
high-density tissue arrays was co-developed by Guido Sauter,
Director of the Institute of Pathology at Hamburg-Eppendorf and an
Equity Partner in TriStar. For more information please visit
