PerkinElmer has introduced a fluorescent HER2Sense preclinical imaging agent to support breast cancer discovery research into personalized medicine.
The HER2Sense agent includes the company’s proprietary VivoTag fluorescent dye and is based on Trastuzumab, a validated commercially-available therapeutic antibody used to detect the HER2/Neu receptor for treating forms of cancer.
Roche Applied Science custom biotech vice president Peter Schramm said the specificity of the Trastuzumab antibody, combined with the detection characteristics of PerkinElmer’s VivoTag dye, labeled with a high degree of consistency by the company, will provide an important tool for discovery research applications.
"We believe that providing researchers the same antibody utilized in the clinical market will provide a valuable continuum between research data and clinical efficacy," Schramm added.
PerkinElmer life sciences & technology president Kevin Hrusovsky said the imaging agent has the potential to provide oncology researchers with revolutionary new data and insights that could influence the development of methods for detecting a range of cancers, and to better guide treatment options.
PerkinElmer said as Trastuzumab specifically detects the HER2/Neu receptor, the HER2Sense agent can also be used to check the status of the HER2/Neu receptor in other non-breast cancer models in living animal systems.