Belgium's MabCure says that it has found a new and better way to identify the unique markers associated with ovarian cancer. This discovery may help to identify the lethal disease while it's still likely that treatment can prolong a patient's life.
MabCure says that it was able to use its monoclonal antibodies to identify "cancer fingerprints" linked only to ovarian cancer. The new approach correctly diagnosed 16 out of 17 ovarian cancers, with a diagnostic sensitivity of 94 percent and 100 percent correct diagnosis of benign tumors.
That kind of accuracy can make the difference between life and death for many patients. Citing the National Cancer Institute, the biotech company says that just 15 percent of ovarian cancers are diagnosed and treated early, when the five-year survival rate is 94 percent. "Unfortunately, the majority of women are diagnosed after the disease has already metastasized, when the five-year survival rate drops to 23 percent."
"The availability of a simple blood test with the ability to diagnose the presence of ovarian cancer early and to differentiate it from benign tumors has the potential to save thousands of lives and reduce the need for unnecessary surgeries," says Amnon Gonenne, CEO of MabCure. "Our findings are an important step in that direction and also have significant implications for the future development of cancer-specific targeted therapies."
- check out the MabCure release
- here's the story from Reuters