Veracyte, Inc. (Nasdaq: VCYT) announced that data published in the journal Cancer show the ability of a novel gene expression signature to classify prostate cancer into distinct molecular subtypes that may inform which tumors are more likely to respond to different treatments. The findings suggest that the novel biomarker, derived largely using Veracyte’s Decipher Genomics Resource for Intelligent Discovery (GRID) database, could potentially enable physicians to further personalize care for their patients with prostate cancer.

“Prostate cancer is a heterogeneous disease with multiple, available therapeutic approaches in both its early and late stages, and insufficient tools to guide therapeutic selection and sequencing for individual patients,” said Edward M. Schaeffer, MD, PhD, chair of Urology at Northwestern University, and senior author on the Cancer manuscript. “Our findings suggest that a molecular subtyping tool based on prostate cancer-specific biological processes could help guide treatment decisions and fuel precision medicine approaches for this disease.”

Dr. Schaeffer and colleagues used 32,000 prostate cancer gene expression profiles from Veracyte’s Decipher GRID database to create a prostate subtyping classifier (PSC) model that identified four prostate cancer subtypes with distinct biological and clinical features: luminal differentiated, luminal proliferating, basal immune, and basal neuroendocrine-like. They then used data from 68,547 Decipher GRID profiles, along with those from five additional clinical cohorts, to evaluate the ability of the PSC to provide information about tumor aggressiveness and susceptibility to specific treatments.

The researchers identified many distinct differences within and between the four subtypes in terms of molecular features and pathways, including higher or lower frequency of gene loss and gene mutations that are known to contribute to tumor aggressiveness and/or treatment response. Additionally, the four subtypes demonstrated differences in clinicopathological features such as prostate specific antigen (PSA) values, frequency of non-organ confined disease, lower- or higher-grade disease, tumor aggressiveness, and time to metastasis following radical prostatectomy. Finally, the researchers report associations between individual subtypes and response to specific treatments, such as androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), radiotherapy, and docetaxel chemotherapy, as well as predicted responses to multiple novel systemic therapies.

“These findings reinforce the value of our Decipher GRID database for providing researchers with new insights that could advance understanding about the molecular origins and pathways specific to prostate cancer and their impact on patients’ response to treatment,” said Elai Davicioni, Ph.D., Veracyte’s medical director for Urology.

The Decipher GRID database includes more than 100,000 whole-transcriptome profiles from patients with urologic cancers and is used by Veracyte and its research partners to help advance understanding of prostate and other urologic cancers. GRID-derived information is available on a Research Use Only basis to physicians who have ordered the Decipher Prostate Genomic Classifier.

About Veracyte

Veracyte (Nasdaq: VCYT) is a global diagnostics company whose vision is to transform cancer care for patients all over the world. We empower clinicians with the high-value insights they need to guide and assure patients at pivotal moments in the race to diagnose and treat cancer. Our high-performing tests enable clinicians to make more confident diagnostic, prognostic, and treatment decisions for some of the most challenging diseases such as thyroid, prostate, breast, bladder and lung cancers, as well as interstitial lung diseases. We help patients avoid unnecessary procedures and speed time to diagnosis and appropriate treatment. In addition to making our tests available in the U.S. through our central laboratories, we also aim to deliver our tests to patients worldwide through a distributed model to laboratories that can perform them locally. For more information, please visit www.veracyte.com and follow the company on Twitter (@veracyte).

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to our statements related to our plans, objectives, expectations (financial and otherwise) or intentions with respect to our clinical tests in and outside of the United States. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as: “appears,” "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "expect," "believe," "should," "may," "will," “positioned,” “designed” and similar references to future periods. Examples of forward-looking statements include, among others, that the Decipher GRID database can provide new insights that could advance understanding about the molecular origins and pathways specific to prostate cancer and their impact on patients’ response to treatment. Additional factors that may impact these forward-looking statements can be found under the caption “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on February 22, 2023, and our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed for the three months ended December 31, 2022. Copies of these documents, when available, may be found in the Investors section of our website at https://investor.veracyte.com. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof and, except as required by law, we specifically disclaim any obligation to update these forward-looking statements or reasons why actual results might differ, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Veracyte, the Veracyte logo and Decipher are registered trademarks of Veracyte, Inc. and its subsidiaries in the U.S. and selected countries. nCounter is the registered trademark of NanoString Technologies used by Veracyte under license.

Veracyte delivers the Decipher Prostate Genomic Classifier from its CLIA laboratories. Those tests are not CE-IVD marked and have not been cleared or approved by the FDA; their performance characteristics were determined by Veracyte and they might be considered for Research Use Only in some markets. Please contact Veracyte for confirmation.

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