Cancer diagnostics
Current diagnostic methods are not sufficient so ~50% of all cancers are at an advanced stage when diagnosed [1]. While when cancer is detected in its early stages, before it has spread, the 5-year survival of patients is 4 times higher than when diagnosed in later stages [2].
Cancer Epidemiology
More than 1/2 females and 1/3 males are in risk of cancer during the lifetime [3]. Importantly, The risk of cancer increases exponentially after the age of 50 [4].
What is liquid biopsy?
Dying cancer cells release DNA into the cells environment and finally to body fluids (e.g. blood, urine or saliva).
These DNA molecules, called cell-free DNA (cf-DNA) allows for early detection, monitoring response to treatment and determining prognosis of cancer.
Liquid biopsy contrary to a standard biopsy is a minimally invasive approach for extracting and utilizing cf-DNA [5-6].
Future benefits
Benefits of early cancer detection from liquid biopsy:
-
drastically improved survival
-
no need for expensive treatment
-
testing easily accessible to entire populations
Proof of principle
We conducted series of experiments to proof usability of our patent-pending technology.
These experiments, performed based on data from other laboratories, as well as data generated in-house, proofed that we can not only detect cancer in blood sample but also classify the cancer type.
-
Crosby D, Bhatia S, Brindle KM, Coussens LM, Dive C, Emberton M, Esener S, Fitzgerald RC, Gambhir SS, Kuhn P, Rebbeck TR, Balasubramanian S. Early detection of cancer. Science. 2022 Mar 18;375(6586):eaay9040. doi: 10.1126/science.aay9040. Epub 2022 Mar 18. PMID: 35298272.
-
Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program (www.seer.cancer.gov) SEER*Stat Database: Incidence - SEER 18 Regs Research Data, Nov 2018 Sub. Includes persons aged 50-79 diagnosed 2006-2015. Data on file GA-2021-004.
-
American Cancer Society. Lifetime Risk of Developing or Dying From Cancer. https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-basics/lifetime-probability-of-developing-or-dying-from-cancer.html.
-
Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program (www.seer.cancer.gov) SEER*Stat Database Incidence - SEER Research Limited-Field Data, 21 Registries, Nov 2020 Sub (2000-2018) - Linked To County Attributes -Time Dependent (1990-2018) Income/Rurality, 1969-2019 Counties, National Cancer Institute, DCCPS, Surveillance Research Program, released April 2021, based on the November 2020 submission. Risk Factor Data on file: American Cancer Society Cancer Prevention Studies II/III.
-
Li P, Liu S, Du L, Mohseni G, Zhang Y, Wang C. Liquid biopsies based on DNA methylation as biomarkers for the detection and prognosis of lung cancer. Clin Epigenetics. 2022 Sep 24;14(1):118. doi: 10.1186/s13148-022-01337-0. PMID: 36153611; PMCID: PMC9509651.
-
Cristall K, Bidard FC, Pierga JY, Rauh MJ, Popova T, Sebbag C, Lantz O, Stern MH, Mueller CR. A DNA methylation-based liquid biopsy for triple-negative breast cancer. NPJ Precis Oncol. 2021 Jun 16;5(1):53. doi: 10.1038/s41698-021-00198-9. PMID: 34135468; PMCID: PMC8209161.