- BioMark Diagnostics Inc. (CSE:BUX) has made distinct findings in its liquid biopsy test for early cancer detection
- At the 112th Annual Meeting of the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology (USCAP) in New Orleans, a research team was able to detect neuroendocrine tumors from plasma samples using BioMark innovative liquid biopsy technology
- The study included a total of 120 plasma samples from patients with biopsy-confirmed Neuroendocrine Tumors (NETs) and 227 control patients and is one of the largest ever reported
- NETs represent 20 per cent of all lung cancers
- BioMark Diagnostics Inc. (BUX) opened trading at $0.21 per share and has risen 5 per cent over the past three months
BioMark Diagnostics Inc. (CSE:BUX) has made distinct findings in its liquid biopsy test for early cancer detection.
In a poster presentation at the 112th Annual Meeting of the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology (USCAP) in New Orleans this week, a research team was able to detect neuroendocrine tumors from plasma samples using BioMark’s liquid biopsy technology. The study included a total of 120 plasma samples from patients with biopsy-confirmed Neuroendocrine Tumors (NETs) and 227 control patients and is one of the largest ever reported.
With a focus on hard-to-detect and treat cancers, the company announced that novel liquid biopsy data presented this week suggests that Pulmonary NETs are reprogramming their metabolism, as reflected by the presence of a panel of distinct metabolic biomarkers. The team noted that a logistic regression model constructed with 8 metabolites was able to discriminate lung neuroendocrine tumors from controls with good performance (AUC = 0.91 for NETs vs controls).
NETs represent 20 per cent of all lung cancers. They are commonly diagnosed late in the course of the disease mostly due to the late onset of symptoms and/or the intrinsic aggressive evolution of the 2 subtypes small cells (SCLC) and large cells (LCNEC). A characteristic of cancer is a major reprogramming of cellular energy metabolism to support cell growth and proliferation, and metabolites have been considered reliable biomarkers, allowing the development of a minimally invasive routine blood test that can be used for screening as well as the monitoring of the disease evolution for patients.
The research team was able to discover a panel of robust metabolic biomarkers that is capable to diagnose NETs with strong performance, but in a media release on this news, lead investigator Philippe Joubert, MD, PhD, stated that it can also distinguish NET subtypes from each other and from NSCLC.
“The results suggests that this metabolic panel could allow the implementation of a routine screening test for NETs and aid in monitoring clinical evolution of neuroendocrine carcinomas. Moreover, due to the non-specificity of the symptoms of NET patients at early stage, we believe that this test may support early diagnosis.”
He has spent the past decade working as a researcher at Institut Universitaire de Cardiologie et de Pneumologie de Québec – Université Laval (IUCPQ-UL) and professor at the Department of Pathology, Université Laval.
Rashid Bux, CEO of BioMark, added that this research remains focused within his company’s core area of strength by providing better diagnostic solutions for hard to detect and treat cancers.
“The result of this study further solidifies BioMark’s lung cancer diagnostic assay franchise. The company intends to continue to support the work led by this talented group of researchers and clinicians to further validate the assay and to introduce it to market.”
BioMark is a liquid biopsy company developing a molecular diagnostics technology platform that uses large-scale cell studies (metabolomics) and machine learning algorithms for new cancer diagnostics and to improve cancer prognosis. Its technology can also be used for measuring response to treatment.
BioMark Diagnostics Inc. (BUX) opened trading at $0.21 per share and has risen 5 per cent over the past three months.
