Lina Abi Mosleh
Ayass Bioscience Inc., USA
Title: Genetics in oncology, liquid biopsy and circulating tumor DNA
Biography
Biography: Lina Abi Mosleh
Abstract
Next generation sequencing (NGS) technology is revolutionizing the diagnosis and treatment of chronic diseases and other fatal conditions, and its emergence as an affordable service is allowing doctors and patients easier access to potentially life-saving genetic data. This technology is cost-effective and delivers accurate and efficient results in a short period of time. NGS can now be incorporated into standard clinical practice. Our custom NGS panels target a group of genes that are known to cause specific genetic diseases or conditions. We have developed panels for cancer that can detect germline as well as somatic mutations in cancer causing genes. Our hereditary cancer panel targets genes that have been previously linked to a predisposition to common and rare forms of cancer such as leukemia, osteosarcoma, breast cancer, prostate cancer, pancreatic cancer, lung cancer, and skin cancer. We also developed two tests for sequencing somatic mutations in tumor driver genes. The first panel targets tumor driver genes using deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) extracted from tissue biopsies that are flash frozen or paraffin embedded. The most recent addition to our testing menu has been the circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) panel, more commonly known as liquid biopsy. 'Liquid biopsies' could revolutionize cancer detection by sequencing ctDNA. ctDNA are pieces of DNA from dying cancer cells found in the blood of cancer patients. We are utilizing a minimally invasive method that uses only a few millilitres of plasma from patients to detect mutations in genes commonly found mutated in solid tumor type cancers. The test is intended to identify the presence of circulating tumor DNA and identify mutations in genes associated with cancer at a very low allelic frequency. The test can be used for the monitoring of cancer remission after treatment such as chemotherapy, radiation or surgery as well as direct new therapies that target somatically mutated genes identified through clinical NGS.