NEWTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PGxHealth, a division of Clinical Data, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLDA), today announced that it has established a research collaboration with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DCFI) to validate the use of genetic variants in Fc gamma receptors (FCGRs), including FCGR3A, in predicting response to trastuzumab (Herceptin) therapy in patients with breast cancer. The research, directed by Karen S. Anderson, M.D., Ph.D. at Dana-Farber, complements other studies underway to further demonstrate the contribution of genetic variants in the FCGR family to monoclonal antibody (mAb) response in cancer treatment. Importantly, the collaboration includes a large-scale effort to discover new genetic variants influencing response to Herceptin that may also predict response to other mAbs of the IgG1 class. The collaboration expands PGxHealth’s FCGR program, which includes its PGxPredict®:RITUXIMAB test for a gene variant used to determine response to rituximab monotherapy in follicular non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Fc gamma receptors are antibody receptors found on immune-regulatory white blood cells, such as T-cells.
