Gene methylation linked to NSCLC recurrence

Belgian diagnostics firm OncoMethylome Sciences says that its research collaborators have demonstrated that gene methylation is significantly associated with recurrence of early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer.

Researchers from the USA's Johns Hopkins University and Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute successfully identified genes whose methylation is associated with tumor recurrence - independently of cancer stage, histologic characteristics of the tumor and demographic variables such as age, sex, race and smoking history. The results of the study, which was sponsored by OncoMethylome Sciences, were published in the March 13 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. Under the terms of an existing research collaboration agreement between OncoMethylome and JHU, the former has an option to license the methylation marker assay.