The test offers new genomic and epigenomic insights into tumour, tumour microenvironment, and patient immunological responses from a simple blood sample

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Guardant Health has debuted its GuardantINFINITY liquid biopsy to advance cancer research and therapy development. (Credit: fernando zhiminaicela from Pixabay)

Precision oncology company Guardant Health has rolled out its next-generation GuardantINFINITY liquid biopsy to advance cancer research and therapy development.

According to the firm, the biopsy provides new, multi-dimensional information into the complexities of tumour molecular profiles and immune response.

It combines an 800+-gene panel with exome-wide methylation detection to offer new genomic and epigenomic insights into tumour, tumour microenvironment, and patient immunological responses from a simple blood sample.

The new assay provides a more comprehensive molecular profile of tumours than earlier assays, giving access to genomic and epigenomic insights for a complete understanding of a tumour’s biology.

The assay’s extensive methylome panel helps identify the exome-wide methylation pattern that each tumour delivers, providing an important new dimension of unexplored clinical development.

Guardant Health co-CEO Helmy Eltoukhy said: “Realising the promise of precision medicine demands a comprehensive, multi-dimensional understanding of the tumour, the tumour microenvironment and the patient’s immune response.

“GuardantINFINITY, the first product from our new smart liquid biopsy platform, represents a quantum leap forward in the capabilities of liquid biopsies to provide those insights.”

Eltoukhy added: “Drawing on 10 years of research and experience from hundreds of thousands of liquid biopsies, this new assay allows researchers to gain unprecedented insight into a tumour’s molecular underpinnings and its systemic complex interactions to help them accelerate the development of much-needed cancer therapies.”

The firm said the test can enable examination of the tumour microenvironment for immuno-oncology applications, sensitive therapeutic monitoring, identification of prognostic signatures and innate resistance to certain therapies.

Currently available only for research, GuardantINFINITY is offered as a single modular assay with flexible configurations that can be customised to fit a current application.

It also has the ability to unlock additional content modules at any time and gain insight into and direct patient selection for IO, and HRD therapies without any delay in additional sample collection, said the company.