ITUS Corporation is an early cancer detection technology company currently developing a platform called Cchek, a series of inexpensive, non-invasive blood tests for the early detection of cancer. Specifically, the test will be able to detect early-stage solid tumor based cancer. This is based on the body’s immunological response to the presence of a malignancy.
The Cchek platform has already demonstrated efficacy in detection of prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer fatalities in men in the United States and is the fourth most common cancer on a global scale. Each year, approximately 1.1 million people worldwide are diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Currently, the most common method currently used to screen for prostate cancer is a blood test known as the PSA which measures prostate specific antigen. While tens of millions of PSA tests are run annually, the test is notorious for producing an exceedingly large number of false positives and uncertain results.
As a result of the deficiencies of the PSA test, a biopsy of the prostate gland is often performed which is invasive, painful, and expensive. While early in its development, Cchek has shown enormous potential to be a more effective prostate cancer screening test, and also a confirmatory diagnostic for existing PSA testing.
Cchek’s ability to locate solid tumor works by measuring a patient’s immune response to a malignancy. This is accomplished by detecting the presence, absence, and quantity of certain unique cells that exist in and around a tumor and that enter the bloodstream. These types of cells have been the focus of recent and ground breaking research in immuno-oncology, enabling the development of revolutionary immunotherapies used for treating certain cancer types.
Instead of seeking to alter or boost the body’s immune system and its ability to destroy cancer cells, as is the case with immunotherapy drugs, ITUS has developed proprietary techniques and protocols for measuring the subtle immunological changes that occur in the blood stream during tumor development.
ITUS had early success and demonstrated a high degree of accuracy and reliability with their approach to distinguish healthy patients from biopsy verified cancer patients. Their goal is to establish Cchek as a leading non-invasive, inexpensive, cancer diagnostic blood test. Ideally, this would reduce or even eliminate the need for the current cancer diagnostic procedures, which are expensive, invasive, painful, and often inaccurate.
Prostate cancer is the 15th type of cancer for which the company has demonstrated the efficacy of its cancer detection technology. The company previously announced success with 14 different cancer types, including breast cancer, lung cancer, and colon cancer. ITUS is truly exceptional now with Cchek, as they are developing new diagnostic procedures to detect the four (4) largest categories of cancer worldwide.
In December 2016, ITUS announced preliminary results from its ongoing patient study, in which the company achieved a sensitivity of 92% and a specificity of 92% in both biopsy verified cancer patients and healthy patients using its newest protocols.
For more on ITUS, visit the company’s website.
Categories: Ideas & Technologies
