Minomic International's prostate cancer diagnostic test has featured at a recent international oncology conference.
The MiCheck blood test, developed by scientists at the company, was presented to international delegates at the American Urology Association late breaking science plenary session.
MiCheck works by screening for a proprietary biomarker known as the MIL-38 antigen, which is present on the surface of prostate cancer cells.
Minomic scientists have also identified two other biomarkers never previously used in prostate cancer diagnosis to further improve the test.
In the latest trial presented at the international conference, scientists tested 300 patient samples sourced from 10 major urology centres across the US, examining the accuracy and reliability of MiCheck in differentiating normal, benign and prostate cancer samples.
They found MiCheck had a demonstrated specificity of 85 per cent, compared to just 40 per cent for existing PSA (prostate specific antigen) screening technology.
MiCheck uses Glypican-1 (GPC-1) which is a newly identified biomarker in prostate cancer. GPC-1 shows clinical utility in improving specificity of detection for prostate cancer when comparing both prostate cancer patients to those patients who are otherwise healthy or who have documented benign prostatic disease.
“Glypican-1 is a newly identified biomarker in prostate cancer,” said Dr Jonathan Henderson, assistant director of Clinical Research at Regional Urology in Shreveport, Louisiana. “Glypican-1 shows significant promise in improving specificity of detection when comparing both prostate cancer to normal plus patients with BPH [benign prostatic hyperplasia], as well as prostate cancer to BPH alone. Its likely clinical use would be as an adjunctive test for patients with elevated PSA.”
In the study, a GPC-1 assay demonstrated 71 per cent sensitivity and 73 per cent specificity for distinguishing between prostate cancer (n = 41) versus a control group (n = 47) plus a cohort of men with BPH (n = 37).
As a result, MiCheck detects just 1.5 false positives in every ten samples, compared to 6 false positives in every 10 PSA samples.
Minomic Chief Executive Officer Dr Brad Walsh has previously described the results as “outstanding”, saying the trial was a significant step towards the test being commercially available.
“We are delighted with these results, which provide further confirmation of our approach in developing an improved prostate cancer screening tool,” he said.