Findings further demonstrate biomarker 5hmC can detect breast, pancreatic and prostate cancer in early stages with promising performance
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., September 24, 2019 — Bluestar Genomics is a company developing innovative, data-driven, epigenomic approaches to comprehensive disease analysis and diagnostics. Bluestar Genomics Chief Scientific Officer, Samuel Levy, PhD, will be presenting at the 11th CNAPs International Symposium on Circulating Nucleic Acids in Plasma & Serum on September 23 through 25 in Jerusalem, Israel.
Bluestar Genomics has previously demonstrated the viability of using its novel 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) technology for early detection of breast and pancreatic cancer and these new data are the first to demonstrate 5hmC’s ability to detect both indolent and aggressive prostate cancer at an early stage. Together, these data mark a significant advancement towards the development of Bluestar Genomics’ blood test for the detection of multiple cancers at the earliest stage of disease occurrence, when treatment is known to have the greatest curative impact on outcomes.
“These new exciting results confirm the potential of our proprietary 5hmC technology to reveal the first signs of cancers where the standard of care doesn’t reliably identify early signs of disease,” said Patrick Arensdorf, Chief Executive Officer, Bluestar Genomics. “At Bluestar Genomics we are developing a novel blood test and we look forward to demonstrating superior predictability for detection of earlier stage cancers.”
By monitoring 5hmC profiles in cell-free DNA (cfDNA) Bluestar Genomics is able to detect the presence of cancer from a simple blood sample. For this study, the company’s scientists isolated cfDNA from plasma and identified epigenomic changes by comparing both cancer and non-cancer subjects with varying stages of disease and clinical characteristics. From there, machine learning algorithms were applied to create predictors that identified each cancer with high accuracy. The predictors demonstrated high performance for the identification of breast, pancreatic and prostate cancer with Area Under the Curve measures of 0.89, 0.95, and 0.83, respectively.
“Current biopsy methods for early stage cancer detection are often invasive and painful, making tumor growth difficult to detect. Using a noninvasive liquid biopsy coupled with 5hmC changes we discovered that multiple cancers are measurable in cfDNA. The platform technology at Bluestar Genomics shows how the detection of the presence of cancer and concordant classification of tumor origin can be leveraged toward a robust clinical assay for routine cancer detection,” said Dr. Levy. “We continue to develop our technologies to provide for data-driven discoveries for broad application across the heterogeneity of disease.”
About Bluestar Genomics
Bluestar Genomics develops next-generation epigenomic approaches to noninvasive molecular testing, providing novel insights in human health and disease towards the improvement of healthcare outcomes. Founded out of the Stanford laboratory of Dr. Stephen Quake, Bluestar Genomics combines biological ingenuity with AI and big data analysis to tackle the most urgent challenges in oncology, immunology, neurology, cardiovascular disease and beyond. Leveraging the ease of liquid biopsy technologies, the company’s cell-free DNA-based assays are targeting large, unmet clinical needs, using simple and noninvasive samples to improve healthcare outcomes. Led by a team with decades of experience bringing products from concept to market, Bluestar Genomics is continuously seeking better ways to measure disease pathology and bring its technologies to the patients, clinicians and scientists searching for tomorrow’s cures.
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