Thermo Fisher Scientific Oncomine Solid Tumour Fusion Transcript kit

Thermo Fisher Scientific has released its CE-IVD Oncomine Solid Tumour Fusion Transcript kit for next-generation sequencing (NGS), designed to aid clinical decision-making and enable multiplexed sequencing of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tumour samples. The kit enables the detection of rearrangements involving the ALK, ROS-1, RET and NTRK1 genes from as little as 10 ng of RNA. The target content focuses on lung cancer but is potentially applicable to other solid tumours.

Genetic rearrangements that cause fusion transcripts are an important and expanding class of actionable biomarkers in cancer. Current approaches to detect variations in a clinical laboratory rely on the use of multiple tests, each designed to detect a different genetic rearrangement. When used in a sequential manner with other required pathology tests, there is a risk of the tumour sample being consumed before an actionable variant is uncovered. The kit overcomes this hurdle with its low RNA sample input requirement of FFPE tissue (10 ng extracted nucleic acid per reaction).

Said to be robust and easy to implement into clinical laboratories, the kit enables users to detect multiple genetic rearrangements from each tumour sample. When used with the company’s CE-IVD Oncomine Solid Tumour DNA kit, mutations can be identified simultaneously with fusion transcripts, all in a single streamlined procedure.