20-20 Gene Systems launches L-IHC staining for biomarker identification in tumors

20/20 GeneSystems, Inc. ("20/20" ) announced today at ADAPT 2010, an industry meeting focusing on advancing personalized medicine, the commercial launch of their patented technology for biomarker identification in tumors and other tissue samples. 20/20 is currently offering the technology to industry and academic researchers under service contracts.

“The L-IHC staining provided by 20-20 Gene Systems is reliable and impressive. We will definitely utilize their services in the present and future endeavors”

The technique--known as "layered- Immunohistochemistry (L-IHC)-- represents a major step forward in enabling personalized medicine and stratification of clinical trials to improve drug efficacy. L-IHC allows for the simultaneous detection of multiple biomarkers in a single tissue section while preserving its morphology and eliminating several limitations associated with the few current multiplex histology techniques. It is particularly useful for studies in which multi-parametric information is essential and tissue supply is limiting, a typical problem in clinical and translational research. "To predict the efficacy of targeted cancer treatments it is usually imperative to assess entire signaling pathways thereby requiring technologies like L-IHC" said Michael Lebowitz, 20/20's R&D Director.

"The L-IHC staining provided by 20-20 Gene Systems is reliable and impressive. We will definitely utilize their services in the present and future endeavors," said Zaida A. Alipio, Senior Research Associate, Nevada Cancer Institute (Las Vegas, NV). (20/20 recently completed a pre-commercial launch pilot project with Nevada Cancer Institute initiated in July.)

The 20/20 platform enables theranostic, prognostic and diagnostic assay development and is especially suited for interrogation of cell signaling pathways, a growing trend in development of targeted therapeutics and diagnostics in cancer. The technology was developed in collaboration with teams from the Laboratory of Pathology of the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) including the laboratories of Stephen Hewitt and Michael Buck. The NIH Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) and NIST Advanced Technology Program programs have supported development of and improvements to L-IHC.