A few days ago, the European Lung Cancer Week was celebrated, one of the most frequent types of cancer in Spain, according to the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (SEOM). That week, several organizations joined forces to raise awareness about the prevention, detection and early treatment of this disease. At CIMA LAB Diagnostics our team also supports this cause by working every day with the tools, technology and staff trained that are needed for submit a comprehensive diagnosis. Our co-director of laboratory for Solid Tumors, Dr. Ana Patiño, explains why a fast and quality diagnosis is important, and how it is achieved.

The Economics of time

For the professor, the thinking behind genomics is at Economics of the patient's time. When performing a genomic study, it is important to include in the study all the genes that can potentially benefit the patient. The traditional form of gene-to-gene programs of study involves the use of an amount of tumor that is sometimes not available and a lot of waiting time, time that a patient with advanced lung cancer, for example, cannot afford. The most efficient thing, at present, is to perform a genomic study that analyzes many genes in a single study, in order to submit a diagnosis in the shortest possible time. At CIMA LAB Diagnostics we achieve this through the massive sequencing panel Oncomine Comprehensive, which contains 161 genes and allows in a single test and in about ten days, to obtain a complete report of the sample that includes the complete genetic picture of the tumor and information on the most appropriate therapy for the patient.

State-of-the-art technology

At the beginning, our laboratory had panels that had 50 genes and only analyzed DNA, i.e., they only identified biomarkers by mutation or amplification. The doctor explains that these panels were built thinking about what was most frequent in cancer; however, it is not enough just to see what is frequent, but it is also necessary to look at what can be clinically useful. For this reason, libraries were developed that also analyze RNA and a larger number of genes. The importance of enlarging the libraries lies in the possibilities of exploring genes that are likely to have a essay or an off-label indication, and all types of possible alterations.