Panel Diagnoses Inflammatory Bowel Disease

A diagnostic panel of seven assays has been developed to diagnose inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and differentiate the subtypes of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

Most laboratories use three assays to diagnose IBD. The new panel, Prometheus serology 7, includes a novel marker called anti-CBirl, which helps identify patients with Crohn's disease, including a unique subset of patients not previously detected by other serologic markers. Prometheus serology 7 was developed by Prometheus Laboratories (San Diego, CA, USA), a company that specializes in testing serologic markers that have clinical value.

A Smart Diagnostic Algorithm (SDA) is used to calculate test results. The SDA pattern-recognition technology derives meaning from complicated data by extracting patterns and detecting trends that are generally too complex to be detected by other statistical means.

Most serological tests require a trade-off between sensitivity and specificity. Prometheus IBD Serology 7 is unprecedented in that it has over 90% sensitivity and specificity for IBD patients in one test, said Dr. Bruce Neri, vice president, diagnostic research and development, Prometheus Labs. To gain these levels of performance, we revolutionized our approach, not only by adding a new marker, but also by analyzing the data with a new pattern-recognition algorithm. The result is the first test of its kind.

Prometheus is a pharmaceutical company committed to developing new ways to help physicians individualize patient care. It focuses on the treatment, detection, and diagnosis of gastrointestinal, autoimmune, and inflammatory diseases.



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