US-LACRN selects Agilent gene expression microarrays for major breast cancer study

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) today announced that the United States-Latin American Cancer Research Network (US-LACRN) has selected Agilent Gene Expression microarrays and associated instruments for a major study of breast cancer in five Latin American nations.

“We're pleased to provide these multinational teams with technical guidance, as well as genomics products, to support accurate, consistent results.”

The researchers will use the microarrays over three years to study gene-expression profiles of 3,000 women with Stage 2 and Stage 3 breast cancer to achieve "a better understanding of cancer incidence and mortality in the diverse populations that make up Latin America," according to the US-LACRN.

The Agilent gene expression microarray portfolio offers the most comprehensive, up to date, unique content on the market enabling the discovery of previously unknown biomarkers. The microarrays include exon level measurements and the ability to interrogate lincRNAs, a new class of non-coding RNAs that have been implicated in a number of disease states, including cancer.

The project will include two molecular profiling laboratories in Mexico, two in Brazil, and one each in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. The first site is being established at the University of Guadalajara in Mexico.

To analyze the microarrays, each site will be equipped with an Agilent High-Resolution Microarray Scanner, Agilent Feature Extraction software, an Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer with kits for measuring DNA sample quality, and associated consumables.

"We're honored to play a key role in this major effort," said Robert Schueren, Agilent vice president and general manager, Genomics. "We're pleased to provide these multinational teams with technical guidance, as well as genomics products, to support accurate, consistent results."

The US-LACRN is a collaboration between the U.S. National Cancer Institute and the ministries of health of Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. Agilent worked with the National Cancer Institute to develop standard operating procedures for two-color gene expression profiling of samples using Agilent Whole Human Genome 4X44K v2 microarrays to study BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes.