Illumina releases TruSight Tumor for NGS-based somatic variant detection in solid tumors

Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) today announced the next product in its TruSight line of content sets, TruSight Tumor, for NGS-based somatic variant detection in solid tumors. TruSight Tumor provides optimized amplicon-based library preparation of 26 oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes selected for their involvement in common solid tumors, including lung, colon, melanoma, gastric, and ovarian cancer.

“TruSight Tumor is designed to run on Illumina's industry-leading sequencing platforms and enables clinical researchers to understand the molecular heterogeneity of FFPE tumor samples”

TruSight Tumor also offers a comprehensive NGS-based tumor profiling solution that provides a broader and more cost-effective view of tumor heterogeneity compared to genotyping-based methods. Researchers can simultaneously detect somatic changes in multiple genes across the tumor genome, as referenced in industry guidelines, as well as emerging biomarkers implicated in pharmaceutical clinical trials. Designed for use with formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) samples, TruSight Tumor enables high levels of sensitivity for minor allele detection (below 5%), with limited DNA input requirements.

"TruSight Tumor is designed to run on Illumina's industry-leading sequencing platforms and enables clinical researchers to understand the molecular heterogeneity of FFPE tumor samples," said Matt Posard, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Illumina's Translational and Consumer Genomics business. "This technology has the potential to expand candidates for targeted therapies who may otherwise be missed with single variant or single gene approaches."

"Tumor characterization using next-generation sequencing enables clinical research laboratories to gain a deeper understanding of underlying biology. In order to detect clinically relevant variants, it is important to look beyond single genes or hotspot mutations while achieving very low levels of sensitivity," said Dr. Robert Daber, Technical Director of Clinical Genomics, Center for Personalized Diagnostics, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania.

TruSight Tumor is the first content set designed for somatic variant detection on the Illumina MiSeq® platform. As a portfolio, TruSight content sets are designed for high performance targeted sequencing to meet the specific needs of the clinical research laboratory by providing high analytical sensitivity and specificity. They offer exceptional performance in the capture and sequencing of targeted genomic regions, and are selected through collaborations with experts from leading institutions.

TruSight content sets are for research use only and not intended for diagnostic use.