Qiagen has introduced the qBiomarker Somatic Mutation PCR array system, designed for rapid and accurate mutation profiling in basic research and drug discovery.
The assays consist of collections of pathway or cancer-specific assays in 96- or 384-well plate formats with a number of pathways (EGFR, ErbB2, and so on) and cancer types.
Laboratory experiments have shown that the PCR arrays provide a sensitivity of as low as 1-2 per cent mutant DNA in a background of wild-type DNA.
The pathway-focused approach also enables an in-depth understanding of the mutations that are present in a specific tumour sample in a short timeframe.
The experiments require approximately two hours from sample to result and are easy to perform, according to Qiagen.
The DNA is extracted from the sample, amplified if needed, and then used for the PCR array with any block-based real-time cycler.
The mutations covered in the arrays have been selected from comprehensive databases and literature reviews based on their biological relevance and frequency of occurrence.
The utility of somatic mutation status information in identifying key signalling disruptions has been demonstrated in numerous studies.
For targeted therapy research, studying the most common and relevant mutations in the context of biological pathways also provides more coverage and therefore the most potential for the discovery and verification of clinical biomarkers.
