Tag Archive for: IHC

Mismatch repair deficiency tested in seven cancer types

Sapien is surveying different #tumor types in its #biobank for mismatch repair-deficiency (MMR-D), also called microsatellite instability (MSi-High). This is because #colorectalcancer #patients with MMR-D do not respond well to standard #chemotherapy but do respond to immune checkpoint inhibitors or ICI. To see which other #cancers may benefit from immune checkpoint inhibitors such as #PD1, we tested 500 curated cases of Endometrial, H&N, Kidney, Liver, Gastric and Thyroid cancers and compared them to 165 colorectal cancers by IHC.
We observe that H&N, Liver and Thyroid cancer have low MMR-D. However, Endometrial cancers have 4-5 times higher MMR-D as compared to CRC; Stomach and Renal cancers also have 5-6% MMR-D cases. Our data suggests that immune checkpoint inhibitors may greatly improve the response rate and survival of Endometrial, Stomach and Kidney cancers in addition to CRC.

Sapien collaborates with Dr. Anjana Rao of La Jolla Institute

It is a pleasure to be working again with Dr. Anjana Rao, Jugnu’s postdoc advisor from Dana Farber Cancer Institute & Harvard Medical School days. Anjana is now the Chair of La Jolla Institute of Allergy and Immunology with a joint appointment at UCSD.  Her lab’s work on Tet family of proteins and their regulation of transcription via methylation in cancer is well known (Rao et al Nat Immunol 2017).

Given our biobank’s deep collection of annotated cancer samples, both FFPE and matched live cells,  it’s a synergistic alliance wherein Sapien brings not just samples but also its R&D expertise in histopathology, cellular and molecular biology to bear on the project.  The project’s first milestone to standardize and automate LJI’s IHC protocol in Sapien hands has been reached.