Johns Hopkins University has licensed a technology that tests for a marker of cancer’s susceptibility to immunotherapy to Personal Genome Diagnostics (PGDx), a leading provider of advanced cancer genome testing products and services.
The technology tests for microsatellite instability (MSI), which occurs when cells have a defect in the ability to repair the mistakes that naturally occur when cellular DNA is copied. Tumor cells with MSI typically have many more mutations than other tumor cells and are more often successfully treated with new immuno-oncology drugs such as PD-1 checkpoint inhibitors.