Press Release
July 3 2007
20/20 Announces Significant Development of Innovative Layered Peptide Array Technology -- 20/20 GeneSystems announced today the publication of significant advances in the development of the Company’s proprietary layered peptide array (LPA) platform. In an article in the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics, Michael Emmert-Buck M.D., Ph.D. and his team at the National Cancer Institute describe the use of 20/20’s layered membrane technology in the analysis of multiple proteins in tissue sections. To date, study of tissue sections is primarily done using immunohistochemistry, a laborious methodology not readily amenable to multiplex analysis. In contrast, as described in the paper, LPA can be used to identify multiple proteins in tumors and other tissues while maintaining the shape and morphology of the tissue. “Layered peptide arrays offer an inexpensive, simple approach to proteomic analysis of tissue samples’ said Bill James, Ph.D., Senior Scientist at 20/20. “The primary diagnostic use for LPA will be for personalized medicine, which entails the molecular profiling of a patient’s tumor to determine what type of targeted therapy will be the most effective. As applied in clinical trials, this technology should expedite new drug approvals by pre-selecting a small percentage of patients with potentially responsive tumors to receive an investigational drug treatment. Tumor profiling using LPA analysis will also aid academic studies by allowing better identification of abnormal cellular processes as targets for new drugs, and by defining a relevant tumor profile for prediction of the tumor’s responsiveness.” 20/20 is collaborating with Dr. Emmert-Buck under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) in using the LPA platform to develop the first blood test for early detection of lung cancer that will accurately reveal the presence of the disease years earlier than the current gold standard. Contact: Jonathan Cohen 240-453-6339 |