Agencourt Bioscience Corporation has announced its Genomic Services provided sequencing for whole-genome scanning in two Johns Hopkins studies published in Science Express.
In both studies, Agencourt employed Sanger sequencing technology for high-throughput discovery of gene mutations associated with specific cancers.
The two studies are part of a collaboration between Agencourt and Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, which announced the discovery of 200 genes linked to breast and colon cancers in 2007.
The first paper, An Integrated Genomic Analysis of Human Glioblastoma Multiformes, reports a study of the most common and lethal type of brain cancer.
Agencourt and the collaborative group sequenced 20,661 protein-coding genes from human tumour samples.
The findings include the discovery of a variety of genes that were not previously known to be altered in glioblastoma multiformes (GBMs).
Certain mutations were found in a large fraction of young patients and in most patients with secondary GBMs that were also associated with an increase in overall survival.
The second study, Core Signalling Pathways in Human Pancreatic Cancers Revealed by Global Genomic Analyses, examined the genetic makeup of 24 human pancreatic cancers.
Agencourt and the collaborative group sequenced 23,219 transcripts representing 20,661 protein-coding genes.
Supporting microarray SNP detection helped define a core set of 12 cellular signalling pathways and processes that were altered in 67 to 100 per cent of the studied tumours.
Dysregulation of these core pathways and processes through genetic mutation may explain pancreatic tumorigenesis.
