Rapid High Sensitivity Monitoring of Tumor Genetic Changes for Targeted Therapy of Cancer

Abstract
Genetic variations in human cancer genes can determine whether a patient will respond to a specific therapeutic agent. For example patients with Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) whose tumors carry mutations in the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) can be responsive to tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI’s) or their tumors can develop resistance to these therapeutics agents. Colorectal cancer patients that carry a single nucleotide change in Exon 2 of the KRAS proto-oncogene are unresponsive to ant-EGFR antibody therapy. Thus there is a need for a rapid, sensitive way to detect mutations in patient tumor derived DNA especially a minimally invasive technique that does not require surgery. QClamp is a real-time PCR method that can detect mutations in tumor derived DNA within a few hours from patient sample procurement. The technology allows the precise and sensitive detection of genetic variations without the need for any novel instrumentation.