Marker for Early Detection of Breast Cancer

An exclusive worldwide license to a protein that can be used as a tool to improve the detection and diagnosis of breast cancer has been granted to Samaritan Research Laboratories of Samaritan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Washington, DC, USA) by Georgetown University (also in Washington), which holds a patent on the protein.

The protein, a peripheral-type benzodiazepine receptor (PBR), is responsible for part of the changes in cellular and molecular functions in the development and progression of breast cancer. Georgetown scientists have identified a correlation between high levels of PBR and the aggressiveness of a tumor. Biopsies could be used to measure for PBR, with high levels serving as a marker for the early detection of breast cancer. Samaritan also plans to explore prevention technology and drugs to inhibit, block, or arrest the production of PBR.
"There is no question today that the war on cancer is winnable as promising therapies become available,” said Dr. Vassilios Papadopoulos, head of the division of hormone research and professor of cell biology at Georgetown. "Our goal is to detect precisely which molecular processes have gone wrong, specifically in breast cancer, and we are hopeful we can do so with this patented technology.”




Related Links:
Samaritan Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Georgetown Univ.