ExonHit/bioMerieux progress cancer test

French diagnostics firms ExonHit Therapeutics and bioMerieux say they have reached a milestone in their R&D program on breast cancer tests. According to the companies, data presented at the annual American Association for Cancer Research meeting show that a panel of genetic signatures identified by ExonHit can clearly distinguish healthy women from those with early-stage breast cancer.

The firms noted that a total of 54 genes were able to correctly classify, with accuracy of 86.7%, a group of 92 women, 55 with stage I/II breast cancer and 37 healthy women. A prospective multicenter clinical study in 1,000 patients has been initiated to validate the specificity and selectivity of the markers.

As part of the research effort, ExonHit applied its Differential Analysis of Transcripts with Alternative Splicing gene profiling technology to the blood samples of healthy women and stage I/II breast cancer patients. The most significant markers were identified using its SpliceArray technology applied to Affymetrix GeneChip microarray platform. The firms noted that mammographic screening is currently the most reliable method to detect breast cancer in asymptomatic patients, but this often fails to detect tumors that are less than 5mm in size, adding that, if validated, the biomarkers will be commercialized by bioMerieux