iKaryos Diagnostics, a provider of molecular cancer testing, announced today the availability of a genome-based, personalized cancer test which uses single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) arrays to digitally assess the DNA of cancer cells.
iKaryos Diagnostics is the first company world-wide to offer SNP array Virtual Karyotype services for cancer. The company operates in collaboration with Creighton Medical Laboratories at Creighton University.
SNP array Virtual Karyotypes provide both copy number and loss-of-heterozygosity (LOH) information at an unprecedented resolution across the genome. SNP array virtual karyotypes can also readily detect a newly appreciated genetic lesion, called copy neutral LOH, which is now known to be quite common in human tumors. No other clinically available methodology can provide this information.
“By providing both genome-wide copy number and LOH information, we can give pathologists and oncologists a more complete picture of each patient’s cancer genome,” said Jill Hagenkord, M.D., chief medical officer of iKaryos Diagnostics and the medical director of the molecular pathology and clinical genomics laboratories at Creighton University. Hagenkord is a board-certified molecular pathologist with subspecialty training in pathology/oncology informatics. She has been using SNP arrays to karyotype tumors since 2006, making her a pioneer in the field of array-based karyotyping of cancers.
“iKaryos Diagnostics brings better cancer diagnostic testing to patients and physicians. We are incredibly excited to launch our product and make this available to a wide audience. The feedback we have received from oncologists and pathologists has been tremendous,” said Robert Klein, Ph.D., chief executive officer of iKaryos Diagnostics.