Caris Life Sciences Symposium to Explore Advances in Next Generation Sequencing for Gynecologic Cancers

IRVING, Texas, March 8, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Caris Life Sciences™, a leading biosciences company focused on fulfilling the promise of personalized medicine, will sponsor an expert symposium, Integrating Next Generation Sequencing Into the Clinical Management of Gynecologic Cancers, at the 2013 Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) Annual Meeting on Women's Cancer® in Los Angeles, Calif.

The symposium, which will take place Sunday, March 10, at 1 p.m. PDT, is designed to update the gynecologic oncology community on technological and clinical advances that may impact and shape the management and therapy optimization for gynecologic cancers both today and in the near future. The program will feature presentations by several prominent experts in the application of tumor profiling in gynecologic oncology.

The expert panel will also discuss the clinical importance of utilizing a multi-platform approach, such as that provided by Molecular Intelligence™ Services, when profiling gynecological malignancies. Molecular Intelligence from Caris Life Sciences is the world's foremost evidence‐based tumor profiling service, providing oncologists with relevant, clinically actionable and individualized treatment information to personalize therapy regimens for their cancer patients.

"Recent technological advances, including the introduction of next generation sequencing (NGS), have expanded the ability to more rapidly and broadly profile gynecological malignancies," said symposium course director Robert Coleman, M.D., professor of Gynecologic Oncology and Reproductive Medicine at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. "This symposium will provide a glimpse into how this emerging tool has enabled significantly improved access to genetic information from cancer patients, many times revealing critical insights about the genomics of the disease."

The application of NGS technologies holds significant promise in the treatment of ovarian cancer, the most lethal gynecologic cancer in the U.S., resulting in approximately 14,000 deaths annually.¹ Although primary ovarian carcinomas initially respond to platinum-based therapy, this response is often incomplete, resulting in relapse in almost 80% of women with advanced disease.^2‐4 It's therefore critical to thoroughly assess the entire biology of a tumor using NGS technology, along with more traditional profiling technologies like IHC and FISH.

"Given the high recurrence rate and poor long‐term survival of women with advanced ovarian cancer, there is an urgent need for improved methods of biomarker target identification, chemotherapy selection and clinical trials enrollment," explained Dr. Coleman. "Ovarian neoplasms differ widely with respect to their clinical behavior and response to chemotherapy, suggesting that each patient's disease may harbor unique, clinically actionable molecular targets. When paired with traditional gold-standard pathology, NGS information has the promise to lead to superior therapeutic associations, more rapid and efficient identification of candidates for new clinical trials, and ultimately, better patient management."

In addition to Dr. Coleman, the symposium faculty includes the below experts, whose presentations will address the following topics:

• NGS Targets in Ovarian Carcinoma: Ryan Bender, Ph.D, FACMG, Director, Molecular Genetics, Caris Life Sciences
• Integrating NGS Data Into Patient Care – Today: Deborah Zajchowski, Ph.D, Clearity Foundation
• The Future of Tumor Profiling in Gynecologic Cancers: Maurie Markman, M.D., SVP & National Director of Medical Oncology, Cancer Treatment Centers of America

About Caris Life Sciences
Caris Life Sciences is a leading biosciences company focused on fulfilling the promise of personalized medicine. Caris' Molecular Intelligence™ Service (MI Profile™) correlates molecular data generated from a patient's tumor with biomarker/drug associations derived from the world's leading clinical cancer literature. This service uses the most advanced and clinically-relevant technologies to provide physicians with information to aid in the selection of personalized cancer treatments more likely to work for each patient. Caris is also developing a series of blood tests based on the company's proprietary Carisome® platform — a blood-based testing technology for diagnosis, prognosis, and theranosis of cancer and other complex diseases. Headquartered in the Dallas metroplex, Caris Life Sciences offers services throughout the United States, Europe, and other international markets. To learn more, please visit www.carislifesciences.com.

References:

1. American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts & Figures 2013. Atlanta, GA: American Cancer Society, 2013.
2. Cannistra SA. Cancer of the Ovary. N Engl J Med 1993;329:1550-9.
3. Thigpen JT, Vance RB, Khansur T. Second-line therapy for recurrent ovarian carcinoma of the ovary. Cancer 1993;71:1559-64.
4. Ozols RF, Rubin SC, Dembo AJ, Robboy S. Epithelial ovarian cancer. In: Hoskins WJ, Perez CA, Young RC, editors. Principles and practice of gynecologic oncology. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott; 1992:731-81.

SOURCE Caris Life Sciences