Our Technology
With the promise of precision medicine becoming a reality, molecular profiling has become standard of care for many cancer types – and required for certain therapies. More than ever, oncologists need a trusted profiling partner to provide reliable, high quality molecular information to guide precise and individualized treatment decisions.
The Caris Molecular Intelligence® comprehensive tumor profiling approach to assess DNA, RNA, and proteins reveals the highest quality molecular blueprint provide evidence-based selection of the most appropriate cancer therapy. Among our most cutting edge approaches is the utilization of artificial intelligence algorithms to make predictions of benefit from standard treatments, including chemotherapy. We are the original and most experienced comprehensive tumor profiling laboratory and have optimized our workflows to provide an industry-leading turnaround time of 10-14 days.
Comprehensive Tumor Profiling Technologies
Unlike other tumor profiling services on the market, we use the best available technologies for biomarker identification. This approach allows our medical teams to more fully understand the biology of the tumor, which helps our oncologist colleagues plan their treatment strategy.
- Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS): Caris has one of the most advanced sequencing laboratories in the world, which allows us to perform whole-exome DNA sequencing and whole transcriptome RNA sequencing on every patient.
- DNA Sequencing: Caris Molecular Intelligence® DNA sequence analysis reliably detects DNA mutations, copy number variations, and gene fusions across the entire exome. Whole-exome DNA sequencing is performed on all tumor types and for every patient. As a consequence we are able to detect mutations, copy number variations, deletions in a large number of cancer-relevant genes and are able to determine presence of genome-wide loss of heterogeneity (LOH), microsatellite-instability (MSI), as well as tumor mutational burden (TMB) with exceptional precision.
- RNA Sequencing: Whole transcriptome sequencing analysis is performed on every case and is the gold-standard method to detect clinically relevant aberrations, in particular gene-fusion events and splice variants. This is a result of the fact that RNA provides sequence information after gene splicing has happened thus avoiding the complexities of genomic features such as large intronic regions. Therefore, Caris Molecular Intelligence® has the ability to detect rare fusion events far better than DNA-based short-read methods, and provides broad coverage of all exons, capturing all possible fusion partners
- Immunohistochemistry (IHC): We evaluate protein biomarkers through an extensive immunohistochemical panel, which are applied in a tumor-type specific manner to conserve tissue and avoid unnecessary testing. Our large team of board-certified expert pathologists utilizes digital pathology and oversees application and interpretation of this technology.
- In situ Hybridization: For select genes, we offer ISH to provide higher level of resolution to our IHC results to detect amplification and fusion events.
- Pyro Sequencing (PyroSeq): We offer methylation analysis of the MGMT promoter to guide therapy selection in glioma
- Microdissection: Our Pathology team reviews every sample that is prepared for DNA and RNA sequence analysis and performs micro-dissection on every specimen, which results in a significant enrichment of the sample for DNA and RNA derived from the tumor. Because of this process, we are able to provide results in more than 95% of the cases and are able to detect molecular sub-clones present in the tumor.
Disease-Specific Testing
Reading Your Reports
Caris Molecular Intelligence performs thorough molecular testing on DNA, RNA and proteins to identify the biomarkers driving a patient’s tumor, and to compare the biomarkers with data from clinical studies around the world. Here’s how the process works:
Sample sent to Caris
The ordering clinician collects and sends a tissue sample to Caris
Biomarker Testing
Comprehensive testing on DNA, RNA and proteins is performed at our state-of-the-art, 66,000 sq. ft. laboratory
Bioinformatics Performed
Team interprets the data using thousands of relevant clinical papers to match your tumor’s biomarkers to treatment options
Report Generated
Results are returned in approximately 10-14 days in an online and easy-to-understand format
Physician Reviews Report
Profiling reveals the molecular blueprint to help guide precise treatment decisions
Complete Molecular Intelligence Report
The MI Profile™ Report delivers high impact results, including potentially relevant, actionable clinical information, in an easy-to-interpret format. Every report includes access to the MI Portal and the Clinical Trials Connector™, which matches each patient’s unique biomarker expression profile to open, pertinent, clinical trial opportunities.
Clinical Trials
Connecting patients with the most up-to-date and relevant clinical trials