Breakthrough in cancer test for males! An amazingly simple new test for the biggest cancer killer in men is being developed in Haverhill. The test, which needs no more than a sample of semen, is set to revolutionise early detection of prostate cancer, which currently kills thousands of men in the UK every year. And it all began in a swimming pool bar at the Frank Lee fitness centre at Addenbrooke’s Hospital. “If we had all been British it would probably have been on the golf course,” says Dr Maxim Rossmann of Cambridge Oncometrix. Max, a Russian scientist who came to further his research at Cambridge University after years as an academic in Germany, had been concerned for some while about the failure rate of existing tests for the prostate cancer. These were thoughts he shared with scientists and medics he met at the pool and afterwards in the bar. Together, with their different disciplines, they started to work on a new test, and had a huge head start when they enlisted the help of Dr Vladimir Zaichick, who is still based in Russia. “Vladimir started work on this more than 30 years ago, but that was in the days of the Soviet Union and he could not publish anything. Then the project was closed, but he had all the data,” Max says. Improvements in technology since those days, matched with the data, has now enabled the team at Cambridge Oncometrix to come up with two devices to test for prostate cancer, one, which will cost no more than a pregnancy test and looks much the same, and the second, which provides detailed information and will be used in GPs’ surgeries. The “stick” test, which can used at home, will give a fair indication, and has already been shown to be 99% accurate, compared with 50% for existing devices. “Prostate tissue produces a fluid, which is part of semen,” Max says. “All the scientists have forgotten the old chemistry and are just working on genes and proteomics. We have come back to basics. The idea was to find something very easy to detect, with no DNA or anything like that involved, and very cheap.” Apparently, the fluid changes when prostate cancer is present, and the Cambridge Oncometrix test picks this up. “The test is non-invasive and will avoid a lot of unnecessary biopsies, which can be painful and cause other problems.” Another Russian scientist, Dr Pavel Shashkov, is closely involved with the new company and has helped with the business plan and initial funding. He originally came to this country to develop a new technology for coating, Keronite, with research based at TWI. He subsequently founded Cambridge Nanotherm, and was mentored by Hugh Parnell, chairman of Cambridge Cleantech, who showed him how to put together a business plan: “And now I have passed this on to Max,” he says. The potential market for the new tests is massive – there are currently 45 million tests a year around the world for prostate cancer, and 350 million men globally have symptoms. It is also likely that far more men will be willing to take the new test.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Jul 2013 23:40:52 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015