Proteomics Technology May Detect Early Cancer

A new approach for early lung, ovarian, and breast cancer detection and risk stratification is being developed by creating a new proteomics technology to accurately detect and measure specific protein fragments in human blood that are potential biomarkers for disease.

PerkinElmer, Inc. (Boston, MA, USA), has announced a five-year research-collaboration agreement with George Mason University (Manassas, VA, USA) to work on this new approach. PerkinElmer is providing new technology and scientific expertise in genetic biomarker expression. Scientists from both organizations will work together to design new types of clinical assay platforms that use both the amino acid identification of a specific protein fragment and its specific mass to identify the biomarker.

Drs. Emanuel Petricoin and Lance Liotta, of George Mason University's Center of Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine, recently discovered an archive of protein fragments in human blood. "This untapped archive of protein fragments from diverse tissue and cellular origins may offer vital disease-related information,” said Dr. Liotta. "High abundance proteins, such as albumin, found in blood serum, appear to act as molecular magnets that mop up fragments.” The researchers have found that these fragments can be identified, measured, and analyzed in the context of specific diseases such as early-stage ovarian cancer.

The biomarkers that the scientists are discovering utilizing PerkinElmer's BioXpression platform will be validated in large-scale clinical trials to determine whether they can determine the presence of cancer, discriminate cancer from other benign diseases, and/or determine that a person does not have cancer.



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