New Discoveries Confirm and Enhance CombiMatrix's Microarray Test for Autism

(PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- CombiMatrix Corporation (Nasdaq:CBMX) announced that today's publication in the American Journal of Human Genetics by Dr. Steve Scherer and colleagues further implicate genomic copy number variation (CNV) in the etiology of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) elevating the importance of the CBMX ATScan(tm) 1.0 microarray test. The study reports the discovery of a chromosome 16p11.2 region in one percent of ASD patients identical to that described last week in the New England Journal of Medicine (Daly et al., NEJM), as well as numerous additional previously unreported ASD-risk genes. CBMX is proud to announce that, as a function of its unparalleled ability to rapidly enhance and clinically validate its genomic arrays, these new loci exist or are being added to the ATScan(tm) 1.0 establishing the CBMX platform as the most up-to-date and comprehensive diagnostic test of its kind for ASD. Moreover, as a function of CBMX's commitment to responsible and affordable diagnostics testing, the enhanced ATScan(tm) remains priced as the most affordable comparable test in the industry. We encourage physicians and patients to contact us at 949-753-0624 for more information.

In the American Journal of Human Genetics publication, researchers at the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto discovered several new genomic variations, increasing the number of identified CNV regions associated to ASD. Dr. Steve Scherer, senior scientist in Genetics & Genomic Biology at SickKids and professor of Molecular Genetics at the University of Toronto noted that, "Our finding of CNVs in seven percent of autistic children not seen in their parents or controls has important clinical implications. Our data indicates that the application of microarrays can have great utility in clinical assessment of undetected syndromes underlying ASD, making it crucial to rapidly translate our basic research discoveries into validated clinical tests available to families," he said.

Dr. Mansoor Mohammed, President and CEO of CombiMatrix Molecular Diagnostics noted that, "We have dedicated considerable effort in mining the literature and leveraging our partnerships to move significant evidence-based research into quality-assured clinical diagnostics. These recent discoveries validate our business plan to establish ourselves as the preeminent provider of genome-based diagnostics. Not only am I proud to see the fruition of our efforts in the rapid development and deployment of our ATScan(tm) test, but also of the exciting pipeline of products we are currently developing and our commitment to their clinical relevance and affordability."

The following are links to the American Journal of Human Genetics article referenced above, as well as the press release from the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids): http://www.ajhg.org/AJHG/latestarticles; http://www.sickkids.ca/mediaroom/custom/structuralchanges08.asp.