A genetic variation that may indicate a patient's risk of developing a potentially life-threatening blood disorder if exposed to certain pharmaceutical therapies or chemicals is one of several medical discoveries scientists at cancer diagnostics leader Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX) will present during the 51st American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition, December 5-8, 2009, in New Orleans, LA.
In 17 oral, poster and abstract presentations, the Quest Diagnostics scientists will also describe novel mutations, discoveries and tests that may lead to extensions to the company's proprietary Leumeta(TM) portfolio of blood-plasma tests for leukemia and lymphoma. Leumeta tests identify genetic markers that can help physicians detect disease, predict therapy response and monitor disease progression using plasma rather than cells, replacing, in some cases, the need for painful bone-marrow biopsies.
In addition, scientists will report on the performance of a diagnostic technique for identifying if a patient with heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) will also experience HIT when treated with a synthetic form of heparin, fondaparinux sodium (ARIXTRA®). HIT is an immune reaction experienced by some patients after exposure to the blood thinning drug heparin that can promote the formation of potentially life threatening blood clots (abstract number 1319).
For a list of Quest Diagnostics presentations, refer to newsroom.questdiagnostics.com.
"As a leader in diagnostics in hematologic cancers and other blood disorders, our goal is to bridge the divide between scientific discovery and clinical need with novel, quality diagnostics," said Jon R. Cohen, M.D., chief medical officer and senior vice president, Quest Diagnostics. "Our scientists' research presented at ASH 2009 expands the growing body of knowledge of the genetic and biological factors implicated in blood diseases. It also promotes our development of new diagnostics, including in our Leumeta(TM) family, for aiding clinical care of patients."
An example of the potential clinical value of the company's scientific research is a study that found that a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), a variation in a DNA sequence, of the erythropoietin (EPO) gene is associated with the development of the blood disorder myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a potentially life-threatening illness for some patients (abstract number 3825).