Research presented at the meeting on Molecular Diagnostics in Cancer Therapeutic Development, organized by the American Association for Cancer Research, says that in the near future the United States will have a new way to detect distant metastasis sooner in breast cancer patients.
The company AdnaGen's diagnostic tool is being evaluated in clinical studies at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. The tool can spot one malignant cell in a typical blood sample.
Using the new technology cancer cells can be captured and analyzed to identify several gene products, including potential molecular targets for a specific drug. Treatments for metastatic breast cancer usually will be given based on the features of the primary tumor. The cancer's primary tumor can be estrogen negative but the metastasis can be estrogen positive. Knowing this information can open up more treatment options for those diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer.
AdnaGen, which is marketing its breast cancer assay (as well as assays for colon and prostate cancer) in Europe, is awaiting the results of a clinical trial before applying for FDA approval to make the test available in the United States.
