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The incidence of prostate cancer increases more with age than any other type of cancer. Twelve percent of all men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer. There are two types of prostate cancer: a slowly growing, non-metastatic tumor and a rapidly growing, metastatic and life threatening tumor. The behavior of a prostate tumor is difficult to predict. It is therefore important to detect tumors at an early stage, when the tumor is organ-confined and can be cured by radical surgery or radiation therapy.
The current blood test (PSA test) for the early detection of prostate cancer is organ-specific but not prostate cancer-specific. Elevated serum PSA levels leads to removal of prostatic tissue (biopsy) to determine whether cancer is present. In 60-75% of the cases these biopsies are negative. PCA3 is expressed in much larger quantities in prostate cancer cells than in normal prostate cells and is, therefore, a prostate cancer-specific tumor marker. PCA3 can be used to detect prostate cancer cells in urine samples of men with elevated serum PSA values. As such it can aid in the prediction of biopsy outcome, and lead to a reduction of unnecessary biopsies.
Moreover, prostate cancer can be detected even better if PCA3 is measured in conjunction with another marker, called TMPRSS2-ERG. The value of the PCA3 test for predicting aggressiveness of a tumor is not yet mature, but seems promising.
This is descibed in the PhD thesis 'The Role of PCA3 in the Diagnosis of Prostate Cancer' by Daphne Hessels. Daphne Hessels has defended this PhD thesis on July 2nd, 2010 at the Radboud Universtity in Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Press release by DiagnoCure on PCA3
In a recent press release the Canadian laboratory service company DiagnoCure reported on a multi center study which suggested "the PCA3 test could be usefull for predicting the outcome of an initial prostate biopsy, thereby reducing prostate biopsies by 40%, while missing only 5% of the high grade cancers in the initial biopsy."
The complete press release can be found here.
NovioGendix winner of second Mercator Award
NIJMEGEN 1-dec-09: The award was presented by jury chairwoman Hannie Kunst (alderwoman from the City of Nijmegen) and Anton Franken, vice-chairman of the board of the Radboud University Nijmegen. It is the second time this bi-yearly award is handed out. The Mercator Award for Knowledge-based Entrepreneurship stimulates knowledge-intensive spin off-companies. The Gelder-Kennis Foundation and Mercator Incubator Nijmegen have created this award for successful businesses founded by persons who have in a study or post a background with Radboud University Nijmegen, the Radboud University Medical Center or the Hogeschool Arnhem-Nijmegen. Winner NovioGendix impressed the jury with the development of a biomarker for prostate cancer. This marker (for the patient less stressful than the conventional methods) is now already used by 50% of the de Dutch hospitals to determine possible prostate cancer. NovioGendix is now developing similar markers for kidney and bladder cancer.
NovioGendix delivers molecular diagnostic tests, internationally:
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Progensa™ PCA3
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HPV
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others, on request
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NovioGendix® offers state of the art molecular diagnostics for the detection and management of cancer: PCA3 test for prostate cancer NovioGendix is specialized in molecular diagnostics and delivers services to physicians, clinics and hospitals worldwide. |
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Until recently, before the recent development of molecular methods for clinical diagnosis, cancer was identified by classifying cells according to their appearance under a microscope. Molecular diagnostics categorize cancer using mass spectrometry and gene expression technology. Microarrays and bioinformatics facilitate the examination of hundreds of thousands of expression patterns of genes at the same time to locate irregular gene and protein activity patterns. These unique patterns are the molecular signatures that we use to identify cancer.
The term "molecular diagnostic" is a collective noun for laboratory techniques which are based on nucleic acids (DNA and RNA). The introduction of these molecular diagnostic techniques has led to a shock wave in the medical diagnostics. It is expected that these techniques are going to play a prominent role in the medicine of the 21st century. Understanding the behaviour of specific genes will not only help us detect cancer earlier, but it will provide important clues as to how to better manage the disease.
The strength of these techniques lie in the high sensitivity and selectivity of the diagnostic test.
