Illumina Advances Genetic Analysis of Cancer with Powerful Tools for Characterizing Chromosomal Changes; Infinium(TM) Whole-Genome Genotyping Data to Help Identify Potential Diagnostic and Therapeutic Targets
6:00 AM EST December 15, 2005
Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN) announced today that it has further enriched its end-to-end genotyping solutions, launching new software tools that enable customers to use Infinium(TM) SNP genotyping data to analyze DNA copy number changes and characterize loss of heterozygosity. These two conditions provide highly informative molecular signposts of cancer development and progression and offer potential to help researchers discover new diagnostic and therapeutic targets.
Copy number changes occur when a chromosomal sequence or an entire chromosome is amplified erratically or deleted altogether. Such copy number aberrations are typical of cancer cells and may provide clues to help identify genes, promoter regions and biomarkers implicated in the unchecked growth patterns of cancer cells. Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) is a related condition, and one that is arguably even more telling of cancer onset and/or progression since it can sometimes occur without apparent copy number changes. Several recent publications have documented the role of copy-neutral LOH in tumor samples.
Every person receives two copies of each chromosome -- one from each parent. LOH occurs when one copy of a chromosome or chromosomal region is lost either physically or genetically during cell replication, often with unfavorable results. In fact, LOH analysis played a key role in the original discovery of tumor suppressor genes (TSGs), whose functional loss is associated with tumor initiation.
Conventional microarray-based approaches are unable to detect LOH and copy-neutral chromosomal aberrations (see Note). Whole-genome SNP-based arrays such as those developed by Illumina overcome this limitation by providing both SNP data and copy number information. Illumina is also the only array manufacturer whose offerings incorporate the ability to analyze genotypes, copy number changes and LOH in a single software package.
"We're very pleased to announce today the release of BeadStudio 2.0 software, providing new tools for understanding cancer and disease progression," stated Scott Kahn, Ph.D., Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Illumina. "As always, our genotyping data is readily exportable into powerful, third-party packages for detailed analysis across multiple samples."
Illumina genotyping customers will benefit from an upgraded version of BeadStudio software with enhanced analytical capability, part of the Company's end-to-end BeadStation solutions for genetic analysis. The BeadStation supports Sentrix(R) whole-genome genotyping BeadChips and Illumina's powerful Infinium(TM) assay, which enables intelligent SNP selection and generates industry-leading data quality for geneticists performing large-scale disease association studies. For more information about BeadStudio or about BeadStation systems, contact Customer Solutions (+1-858-202-4566) or visit illumina.com.
About Illumina
Illumina (www.illumina.com) develops and markets next-generation tools for the large-scale analysis of genetic variation and function. The Company's proprietary BeadArray technology -- used in leading genomics centers around the world -- provides the throughput, cost effectiveness and flexibility necessary to enable researchers in the life sciences and pharmaceutical industries to perform the billions of tests necessary to extract medically valuable information from advances in genomics and proteomics. This information will help pave the way to personalized medicine by correlating genetic variation and gene function with particular disease states, enhancing drug discovery, allowing diseases to be detected earlier and more specifically, and permitting better choices of drugs for individual patients.
"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: this release may contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Among the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in any forward-looking statements are the costs and outcome of Illumina's litigation with Affymetrix, the Company's ability to scale and integrate CyVera technology, the ability to further scale oligo synthesis output and technology to satisfy market demand deriving from the Company's collaboration with Invitrogen, Illumina's ability to further develop and commercialize its BeadArray technologies and to deploy new gene expression and genotyping products and applications for its platform technology, to manufacture robust Sentrix(R) arrays and Oligator(R) oligonucleotides, and other factors detailed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission including its recent filings on Forms 10-K and 10-Q or in information disclosed in public conference calls, the date and time of which are released beforehand. Illumina disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements beyond the date of this release.
Note: How Illumina Is Helping Scientists Understand the Genetic Basis of Cancer
Illumina markets a broad portfolio of integrated array-based solutions for understanding the genetic basis of cancer. In addition to the breakthrough Infinium(TM) assay, Illumina has also developed the DASL(R) assay, which enables cancer researchers to generate reproducible gene expression profiles from degraded RNAs such as those found in paraffin-embedded samples. Over 500 million such samples are estimated to exist globally for cancer alone. In September 2005, Illumina installed a production-scale BeadLab at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) for large-scale, array-based research into the genetics of breast and prostate cancer. In November, the Company announced that it was working with Cancer Research-UK on a large-scale genotyping project to better understand colorectal cancer. The ability to leverage high-quality genotyping data to identify chromosomal aberrations such as LOH puts even more analytical power into the toolboxes of cancer researchers. And unlike CGH methods, genotyping arrays enable the detection of copy-neutral events such as mitotic recombination, gene conversion and uniparental disomy -- important indicators of cancer and genetic disease. |
