TEST:

oncoReveal™ Core LBx

"Pillar Biosciences said Wednesday that more of its OncoReveal next-generation sequencing panels will be offered by Illumina in an expansion of the companies’ existing partnership...The deal includes the OncoReveal Essential MPN, Myeloid, Multi-Cancer with CNV and Fusion panel, and BRCA1 and BRCA2 plus CNV panel, which will be available as part of validated workflows on the MiSeq i100 sequencer launched last week."

"Pillar Biosciences, Inc. has entered into a strategic partnership with AstraZeneca to expand laboratory access to molecular testing, using rapid, Next Generation Sequencing (NGS)-based liquid biopsy tumor profiling panels for detection of genetic cancer variants, with an initial focus on European markets and the UK...The partnership aims to rapidly identify tumors with clinically actionable genomic alterations via liquid biopsy profiling and intends to support faster diagnostic testing by increasing the local availability of plasma-based tumor profiling at leading clinical laboratories....The work will initially leverage Pillar Biosciences oncoReveal Core LBx, Essential LBx, and Fusion LBx research-use-only (RUO) liquid biopsy kitted NGS panels."

All 4 approaches demonstrated S39 AMP Abstracts The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics â–  jmdjournal.orggood performance as proof of principle of their potential utility in liquid biopsy comprehensive or targeted genomic profiling. Detailed performance evaluation featured point s to consider, especially where VFs were near each method's limit of detection. An understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of each approach is essential to correctly interpret results.

"Beckman Coulter Life Sciences...announces a collaboration agreement with Pillar Biosciences, which develops and distributes IVD & RUO NGS testing solutions based on their proprietary SLIMamp® technology to help localize patient testing and optimize the selection of precision therapies for cancer patients...The application development partnership is initially focused on five commercially-available, solid tumor liquid biopsy and hematology panels from Pillar Biosciences..."

Our findings indicate that using our SLIMamp chemistry, achieving high sensitivity and specificity in detecting low-frequency variants in cfDNA samples by nextgeneration sequencing testing does not necessitate the use of UMIs. Instead, implementing a robust post-sequencing computational strategy in non-UMI protocols using in- or out-of-batch normal control can yield equivalent or improved assay performance.

CNA calling is challenging for focused panels with low DNA input and low CNs. oncoCNA addresses this challenge by accurately and consistently calling CNs with as little as 10ng cfDNA and 1.2 copy number ratio, enabling rapid and cost-effective on-site LBx NGS testing at any pathology lab.

We demonstrate here a low-cost, kitted, amplicon-based LBx panel that can detect clinically significant, high-priority variants down to 0.1% VAF, without the use of UMIs that can be run at scale on a mid-throughput Illumina NextSeq 550 NGS platform, enabling greater opportunity for labs to perform LBx testing within their own laboratories. The panel was able to amplify and detect variants even in samples with limited DNA input <10ng. The panel's performance was not affected by the choice of extraction strategy used.

We developed a cfDNA assay for MSI detection in addition to SNV/indel and CNV detection. We demonstrate high performance with matched and unmatched normals, supporting the feasibility of such panels for liquid biopsy testing.

"Pillar Biosciences, Inc...has announced the global launch of oncoReveal™ Core LBx, a research-use-only (RUO) next-generation sequencing (NGS) kit designed to enable laboratories with a solution for liquid biopsy-based pan-cancer tumor profiling. The oncoReveal Core LBx is the latest addition to Pillar Biosciences' portfolio of cancer profiling assays designed to enable localized testing and reduce time to treatment initiation."