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A wish to advance ISH
February 2012
SHARING OPTIONS:
TUCSON, Ariz.—Ventana
Medical Systems Inc., a member of the
Roche Group, and Hayward,
Calif.-based Advanced Cell Diagnostics Inc. (ACD) in
mid-December
inked a worldwide co-promotion agreement for what they say will be
the first commercially available, fully automated RNA in-situ hybridization
(ISH) assay system capable of "robust
detection and visualization of virtually any expressed gene in routine clinical
specimens at single-molecule
sensitivity."
Moreover, the companies maintain that the RNAscope
formalin-fixed paraffin-
embedded (FFPE) reagent systems automated on the
Ventana DISCOVERY ULTRA and DISCOVERY XT will offer researchers "a powerful
tool with unprecedented
levels of performance," particularly for ISH
applications.
Specifically, the companies will be
automating the assay
system on the Ventana DISCOVERY series of slide-staining platforms. The product
offerings are expected to become commercially
available in the first quarter of
2012 and will initially be offered for research-use only applications, which is
fitting considering that the RNAscope
products aren't intended for diagnostic
applications, nor are any of the DISCOVERY products.
"Given
the fact that the majority of biomarkers are
discovered from genomic research and are RNA by nature, the automation of
RNAscope represents an important
milestone that will accelerate biomarker
research into a new level of sophistication," according to Dr. Yuling Luo,
founder, president and CEO of
ACD.
He further predicts that "RNAscope will become an equally
indispensable tool alongside
immunohistochemistry, fluorescence in-situ hybridization and polymerase chain reaction for
researchers in life sciences and drug development,"
and adds that the ability
to generate robust and reproducible results from routine clinical specimens
"makes the technology a compelling platform for
clinical diagnostic
applications in the foreseeable future."
In the news release about the deal,
the companies call
RNA-based ISH "an indispensable method to analyze gene expression in the
context of tissue architecture in areas of oncology,
virology and neuroscience
research." They note that RNAscope is an award-winning, breakthrough technology
that provides researchers the unique
capability to interrogate the function and
disease relevance of any expressed genes in situ, especially for the approximately 5,000 genes and
15,000 non-coding
RNAs in the human genome that no other technologies can adequately address. In
addition, RNAscope allows researchers to tap into the
estimated 400 million
clinically annotated, archived FFPE tissue specimens for retrospective clinical
studies in translational research.
"The combination of RNAscope reagent system and our
sophisticated and flexible DISCOVERY platform and
detection systems delivers a
powerful solution for biomarker discovery and validation," said Bill Crawford,
Ventana's director of marketing for the
company's Discovery division, in an
official statement. "It has significant potential to advance cell- and
tissue-based biomarker analyses for future
clinical and companion diagnostics
development."
News of the Ventana-ACD deal came just a little
more than a
month after ACD announced that it had received the 2011 North American Frost
& Sullivan Technology Innovation Award for its RNAscope
platform, based on
Frost & Sullivan's recent analysis of the in-situ biomarker detection assay market.
"RNAscope provides the first opportunity to profile single
cell gene expression in situ, leveraging the full potential of RNA
biomarker
technology," said Cecilia Van Cauwenberghe, a Frost & Sullivan senior
research analyst, at the time. "This technology offers unique
opportunities by
targeting the molecular signature of every cell within the intricate cellular
structure and tissue architecture evidenced in clinical
specimens."
Furthermore, the RNAscope technology platform excels over
conventional assays by
reaching significantly high levels of specificity and
sensitivity in detecting virtually any gene in the human transcriptome in
situ, while
simultaneously enabling
quantification of multiple mRNA transcripts at a single-cell level.
"Other
strengths include quantitative analysis, enabling the
detection of each target to be quantified on a per-cell basis," noted Van
Cauwenberghe. "In
addition, it offers colorimetric or fluorescent readout under
bright field or fluorescent microscope, broad sample type spectrum, as well as
speed and
throughput compatibility with fully automated walk-away assay
systems. The technology has been demonstrated to achieve RT-PCR-level
sensitivity and
specificity. RNAscope is viewed as being over 100-fold more
sensitive than traditional non-isotopic ISH methods." Back |
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