Prezeon is the firm’s sixth diagnostic.
Myriad Genetics is launching its sixth molecular diagnostic, Prezeon™, which assists in understanding the status of the PTEN gene. PTEN plays a major role in critical cell-signaling pathways that have been implicated in cancer progression.
Myriad reports that it discovered the PTEN gene and has four U.S. patents and several additional patents pending on the PTEN gene, protein, and antibody as well as their use in molecular diagnostic assays.
Prezeon provides an analysis of protein expression by immunohistochemistry to determine whether the PTEN gene is functioning properly. PTEN is a major component of the mTOR and EGFR cell-signaling pathways that are targeted by many cancer drugs, and it is believed to play an important role in determining a patient’s sensitivity to a range of cancer chemotherapeutics. PTEN loss is associated with resistance to certain drugs and sensitivity to others, suggesting the potential to determine the most effective chemotherapy for patients.
Myriad also markets BRACAnalysis for breast and ovarian cancer, Colaris to predict hereditary colorectal and endometrial cancer, Colaris AP to identify hereditary colorectal polyps and cancer, Melaris for inherited susceptibility to melanoma and pancreatic cancer, and TheraGuide 5-FU for assessing the risk of toxicity due to 5-FU/capecitabine-based chemotherapy.