Wednesday, June 20, 2018
Natera, Inc.,, a global leader in cell-free DNA testing, today announced a research collaboration with the Institut Jules Bordet, an internationally renowned multidisciplinary cancer reference center in Belgium, using the company's Signatera™ research-use-only (RUO) circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) assay to evaluate molecular response and minimal residual disease (MRD) in women with early stage breast cancer.
Natera will analyze approximately 300 plasma specimens prospectively collected and banked from 80 patients diagnosed with non-metastatic breast cancer, who all received neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by surgery, and who were then monitored for recurrence with serial imaging. The study will correlate results of the Signatera assay with clinical outcomes, including pathological response and event-free survival. With sample collection initiated in 2011, the study is led by Michail Ignatiadis, MD, PhD, attending physician in the Medical Oncology Department of Institut Jules Bordet and assistant professor at the Université Libre de Bruxelles.
"We are pleased to work with Natera to explore this exciting new approach for evaluating treatment response in the neoadjuvant setting," Dr. Ignatiadis said. "Detection and monitoring of circulating tumor DNA has great potential to improve patient care by assisting therapeutic decision-making both pre- and post-surgery."
This is the third breast cancer collaboration Natera has announced in the past 18 months. Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women in the United States.1 Approximately 250,000 women are diagnosed with invasive breast cancer every year in the United States.1 While the overall survival rate for breast cancer has improved, recurrence remains an important clinical concern, with 5-year recurrence rates estimated to be as high as 33%.2,3
"We look forward to working with Institut Jules Bordet on this study," said Jimmy Lin, MD, PhD, MHS, Natera's Chief Scientific Officer, Oncology. "We believe this collaboration may reveal new clinical indications for Signatera as a useful biomarker in breast cancer treatment and may pave the way for therapy response and minimal residual disease applications in other disease types."
