This webinar will discuss a study to compare two different liquid biopsy approaches — one based on real-time PCR and one based on mass spectrometry — in patients with advanced lung cancer. With liquid biopsy entering the routine in personalized cancer treatment it is important to understand the differences inherent to technologies for analyzing circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) and its implication for the patient. The study is using both a real-time PCR assay and a MALDI-TOF assay on blood samples taken from patients with advanced lung cancer at time of diagnosis or during follow-up of treatment by EGFR inhibitors. Initial results demonstrate that the MassArray UltraSeek Lung panel is a sensitive and accurate technology for ctDNA analysis and that this sensitive method could potentially detect more patients with EGFR mutations who could benefit from a targeted therapy — particularly at the time of diagnosis.

Speaker:

Pierre-Jean Lamy, PharmD, PhD
Medical Director, Laboratoire de Biologie Medicale, Imagenome

Dr. Pierre-Jean Lamy is an oncogeneticist specializing in biomarkers of solid tumors. He graduated from the Rockefeller Medical and Pharmaceutical University in Lyon, France, in 1992, before joining the Montpellier Cancer Institute in 1997. He was the Head of the Department of Biology and Oncogenetics in which he developed a molecular laboratory dedicated to the detection of DNA alterations in solid tumors. Research on cancer biomarkers has been the main focus of his work for more than 18 years. As Coordinator of the Montpellier Cancer Institute Biobank, Dr. Lamy led many translational research projects on prognosis and predictive biomarkers. His research aims to improve personalized medicine, focusing on molecularly targeted agents and related biomarkers. Dr. Lamy is currently the Medical Director of Imagenome, “Institut Médical d’Analyse Génomique,” which is part of the first private clinical laboratory group in France, called Labosud. Imagenome provides molecular tests for patients that help clinicians for cancer diagnostics and personalized therapy prescriptions.