Groundbreaking pan-cancer screening study published
Solna, Sweden – May 29, 2018 –Baseline data from iCellate’s groundbreaking screening study – Screening Circulating Tumor Cells as a Noninvasive Cancer Test in 3388 Individuals from High-Risk Groups (ICELLATE2) – has been published in the May issue of the journal Disease Markers.
iCellate, in collaboration with Hospital Nacional Arzobispo Loayza in Lima, has conducted an all-comers, single center study in a high-risk population (smokers, cancer heredity, hepatitis B or positive PSA) of 3388 subjectively healthy individuals to investigate if screening for CTC (circulating tumor cells) in blood samples is a clinically valid test for early detection of cancer.
The subjects, in the age of 45-80 years, visited the hospital for other reasons than suspicion of having cancer and were offered to participate in the study if they belonged to any of the four pre-defined risk-groups and were also not presently or previously diagnosed with cancer. They were asked to donate one 10 ml blood sample, which was then analyzed by iCellate’s CTC test.
Cancer spreads from a primary tumor to distant parts of the body through circulating tumor cells (CTCs) that migrate into the lymphatic and blood circulation systems. By identifying and analyzing these CTCs, iCellate can help physicians detect and manage the disease.
The results were in line with expectations, based on the cancer incidence in Peru and the high-risk profile of the patients. 107 individuals (3.2%) were found to have one or more CTC in their blood stream.
The present findings therefore confirm screening for circulating tumor cells as a promising new screening test for early detection of cancer.
"We are very pleased by the outcome of this first collaboration with our colleagues in Lima, Peru”, says iCellate’s Christer Ericsson, CSO and research scientist at Karolinska Institute (KI). “Although no structured follow-up program has been possible to date, we know that we have already helped several of the patients to detect and remove early-stage cancer before symptoms have occurred”, he continues. “We remain hopeful that a comprehensive follow up program will be possible in the near future”.
Iohn Ryott, Head of Sales and Marketing says “This study is important, and by adding genetic sequencing, its utility can be enhanced even further. Since the study was performed, our genetic sequencing and bio-informatics solution have been launched, which allow us to reveal other crucially important information of where the tumor is located and how to treat it, analyzing the gene mutations that drive the disease in those very same cells.”
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