Caris Life Sciences presents new diagnostic data at ACG 2010

Caris Life Sciences™, Inc., a leading biosciences company focused on enabling precise and personalized healthcare through the highest quality anatomic pathology, molecular profiling and blood-based diagnostic technologies, today announced upcoming highlights from the Company's presentations at the 2010 Annual Meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology ("ACG 2010") held in San Antonio, TX, October 15-20. In total, Caris was awarded 17 accepted abstracts, three of which are ACG Presidential Poster Award recipients.

Specific highlights include "Laboratory Screening of Colorectal Cancer Patients in Routine Practice Identifies Probable Lynch Syndrome Patients at a High Frequency, Even among Older Patients," (P831) co-presented by Dr. Mark Redston, Director for Molecular Pathology, and Dr. Richard H. Lash, Chief Medical Officer on Monday, October 18. The poster shares promising data concerning the Caris Life Sciences' DNA mismatch repair (MMR) testing program, which allows gastroenterologists to provide optimal surveillance and disease management recommendations to patients, while helping identify families at risk for colorectal cancer. 

The poster reviews the 75 probable Lynch Syndrome (LS) patients identified by the Caris Life Sciences' DNA MMR testing program, including 45 with colorectal cancer, 23 with high-grade dysplastic adenomas, and 7 under the age of 40 with adenomas. The results strongly suggest that most LS patients are not identifiable by generally accepted personal demographic and family history criteria. Further, the data support the clinical utility of MMR testing in detecting unsuspected LS.

Dr. Richard H. Lash, Caris Life Sciences' Chief Medical Officer, commented, "Our MMR testing program for Lynch Syndrome is a powerful example of the effectiveness of sophisticated diagnostics in subspecialties like gastroenterology. Testing for MMR, while technically fairly straightforward, is quite complicated to both interpret and place into proper clinical context, and I am pleased to have the expertise of Dr. Redston at Caris. He and I are honored to have the opportunity to present our findings at ACG 2010, as are my other colleagues with their exciting research, and we look forward to further enhancements of our diagnostic tools."

Other Caris Life Sciences posters include:

2010 ACG Presidential Poster Recipients

P411. "10,000 Sessile Serrated Polyps: Slow Progression to Low-Grade and High-Grade Dysplasia in a Large Nationwide Population." Robert Genta, MD, FACG, Richard Lash, MD, FACG

P462. "Reactive Gastropathy in Children and Young Adults: Prevalence and Clinical Correlations." Shelby Melton, MD, Robert Genta, MD, FACG

P816. "High-Grade Dysplasia in Colonic Adenomas Among 500,000 Colonoscopy Patients." M.H. Saboorian, MD, Richard Lash, MD, FACG

2010 ACG Poster Presentations

P6. "Proton Pump Inhibitors and Lymphocytic Esophagitis: a Novel Association?" Salima Haque, MD, Robert Genta, MD, FACG

P210. "Influence of Sampling Strategy and Utility of Rectal Biopsy in the Diagnosis of Collagenous and Lymphocytic Colitis." Jonathan Glickman, MD, PhD

P211. "Hyperplastic Polyp of the Colon: Age and Gender Distribution of 65,453 Cases." Jeremy Ditelberg, MD

P212. "Collagenous Colitis: a Clinical and Demographic Review of 2368 Cases." Jeremy Ditelberg, MD

P252. "Primary Myeloid Sarcoma of the Colon in a 71 Year Old Male Presenting as a Nodule During Screening Colonoscopy." Jeremy Ditelberg, MD, Ahmed Bedeir, MD, Parag Patel, DO

P437. "The Inlet Patch Revisited: a Clinicopathologic Study of 569 Patients with Heterotopic Gastric Mucosa in the Proximal Esophagus." Giovanni Lujan, MD, Robert Genta, MD, FACG

P439. "The Sentinel Fold Revisited: a Clinicopathologic Study of 380 Patients." Shelby Melton, MD, Robert Genta, MD, FACG

P637. "Incidental Strongyloides stercoralis Infection in Colonoscopic Mucosal Biopsies in the United States." M.H. Saboorian, MD, Guy Lindberg, MD, Robert Genta, MD, FACG

P656. "Malakoplakia of the Gastrointestinal Tract: Prevalence and Clinicopathological Associations." Guy Lindberg, MD, Robert Genta, MD, FACG, Hossein Saboorian, MD

P658. "Rare Presentation of Gastrointestinal Mantle Cell Lymphoma." Heather Morris, DO, Nicholas Sun, DO, Shawn Kinsey, MD

P741. "Microscopic Colitis-like Histologic Changes in Idiopathic Inflammatory Bowel Disease Patients: a Clinicopathologic Study Utilizing a National Pathology Database." Jonathan Glickman, MD, PhD, Anuradha Singhal, MD

P831. "Laboratory Screening of Colorectal Cancer Patients in Routine Practice Identifies Probable Lynch Syndrome Patients at a High Frequency, Even Among Older Patients." Mark Redston, MD, Richard Lash, MD, FACG

P877. "Eosinophilic Gastritis: a Clinicopathologic Study of 48 Patients." Thida Lwin, MD, Shelby Melton, MD, Robert Genta, MD, FACG

P1060. "CMV Colitis in Patients Undergoing Colonoscopy in Community-Based Endoscopy Centers." Reenu Malhotra, MD, Anuradha Singhal, MD, Robert Genta, MD, FACG