Life Technologies has launched its Taqman Mutation Detection Assays, which offer the precision needed to detect a single mutant molecule hiding in a background of one million normal copies.
Developed for clinical researchers to validate and screen for minute levels of mutations in cancer-related genes, the Taqman Mutation Detection Assays are said to show at least tenfold greater sensitivity than currently available products.
The assays will also support the development of emerging technologies and future products for detecting circulating tumour cells (CTCs), which scientists in the UK recently said could help determine aggressiveness levels and potential treatments for the disease.
Taqman Mutation Detection Assays focus on detecting mutations in three human genes associated with colorectal, lung, pancreatic and breast cancer.
The genes - KRAS, BRAF and EGFR - have also been implicated in leukemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, melanoma and papillary thyroid carcinoma.
Life Technologies is planning to expand its portfolio of cancer-research assays to cover many other cancer-related genes.
Taqman Mutation Detection Assays are powered by castPCR (competitive allele-specific Taqman polymerase chain reaction), a novel technology that utilises a combination of proprietary assay design, as well as chemistry, to amplify mutations of interest and suppression factors to silence other DNA molecules in samples.
Coupled with Life Technologies' Taqman brand of molecular probes and primers, the Mutation Detection Assays enable high sensitivity and specificity.
CastPCR has been optimised for use on standard qPCR instrumentation such as Life Technologies' ViiA 7 Real-Time PCR System.
