TRON uses Ingenuity Variant Analysis to identify cancer driver variants

Jan 9 2012

Ingenuity Systems, a leading provider of information and analysis solutions for life science researchers, today announced that TRON (Translational Oncology at University Medical Center Mainz) has used Ingenuity Variant Analysis™ to identify cancer driver variants that inform the development of an experimental individualized RNA-based therapeutic.

The ability to identify causal variants from the output of a whole genome or exome sequencing experiment remains a major bottleneck in making scientific discoveries and realizing the value of NGS sequencing.  To address these challenges, Ingenuity has leveraged the Ingenuity^® Knowledge Base of accurate, curated biological content and the most comprehensive database of curated mutation information to develop Ingenuity Variant Analysis.  Ingenuity Variant Analysis is currently available in limited access and enables researchers to quickly sift through millions of variants to identify a few causal variants based upon known relationships with pathways, genes, biological processes, and diseases.

"Individualized therapy development is about speed and accuracy.  As scientists and clinicians explore new avenues for truly individualized cancer therapy and personalized medicine, it is critical to have tools that help us quickly prioritize cancer driver variants for treatment of a particular patient," stated John Castle, Co-Head of the TRON Biomarker Development Center.  "Ingenuity Variant Analysis helped us identify 30 compelling tumor-specific variants in record time that we then used to inform our first experimental therapeutic RNA cocktail."

"TRON researchers are pioneers in the application of NGS technology," said Doug Bassett, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer and Chief Technology Officer, Ingenuity Systems.  "This is a promising approach that could provide a potent new weapon in the fight against cancer, training patients' own immune systems to fight tumor cells.  We are proud that Ingenuity Variant Analysis is able to play a critical role in the fight against genetic disease."