Development of a novel blood test for the early and more accurate diagnosis of Pancreatic Cancer

全世界每年有近46万人被诊断出患有胰腺癌，由于研究发展和治疗进步的平台期，预计未来几十年病例数将增长6%。不幸的是，由于非特异性症状往往出现较晚，而且目前胰腺癌的诊断测试不够理想，因此通常只能在疾病的晚期诊断出来，并且通常已经扩散到继发部位。生存统计数据令人震惊，不到30%的患者在诊断后适合接受任何手术或治疗，超过75%的患者存活时间不超过一年。目前用于诊断胰腺癌的血液检查是完全不充分的，仅在约50%的病例中出现，在大量其他良性无关疾病中也出现，或者直到疾病进展晚期才发现癌症。此外，目前还没有针对胰腺癌高危人群的筛查工具。GenoME的成功建立在OvaME的基础上，OvaME是一种用于卵巢癌早期检测的血液测试。我们现在的目标是开发一种简单的血液检测方法，可以检测胰腺癌早期出现的DNA特异性修饰（DNA甲基化）。我们的候选DNAme标记比目前的胰腺癌血液检测显示出更高的准确性和可靠性，有可能提高受影响患者的生存率和生活质量。虽然这项名为PanME的检测最初将作为有症状个体的诊断工具推出，但GenoME的长期目标是将该检测作为世界上第一个胰腺癌筛查工具进行营销。上市后，这将需要更大的长期临床验证，以确定胰腺筛查方案。PanME胰腺癌检测是该公司的第二款产品。将我们的平台技术成功应用于一个新的疾病领域，将使我们能够筹集到进一步的关键资金，以扩大我们的生物标志物开发，不仅针对其他癌症类型，还针对许多其他疾病，这些疾病通常缺乏研究和诊断改进或知识，如子宫内膜异位症。

Almost 460,000 people a year are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer across the world, with the number of cases predicted to rise by 6% over the coming decades due to a plateau in research developments and therapeutic advancements. Unfortunately, due to non-specific symptoms which often present late, and the current sub-optimal diagnostic tests for pancreatic cancer, it is often only diagnosed in the later stages of the disease, and usually when it has already spread to secondary locations. The survival statistics are alarming, with less than 30% of patients suitable candidates for receiving any surgery or treatment after diagnosis and over 75% of patients do not survive for more than a year.The current blood test for diagnosis of pancreatic cancer is wholly inadequate, being only raised in ~50% of cases, also raised in a plethora of other benign unrelated conditions, or does not detect the cancer until late in the disease progression. Furthermore, there is currently no screening tool for people who are at high risk of developing pancreatic cancer.GenoME builds on its success with OvaME, a blood test for early detection of ovarian cancer. We are now aiming to develop a simple blood test which detects specific modifications of DNA (DNA methylation) which are present in the early stages of pancreatic cancer. Our candidate DNAme markers display potential superior accuracy and reliability over the current pancreatic cancer blood test, potentially improving the survival and quality of life of those affected. Whilst this test, PanME, will initially be launched as a diagnostic tool for symptomatic individuals, the long-term ambition for GenoME is to market the test as the world's first screening tool for pancreatic cancer. Post launch, this would require a larger long-term clinical validation in order to define a pancreatic screening programme.The PanME pancreatic cancer test is the second product for the company. Successful demonstration of applying our platform technology to a new disease area will enable us to raise the further critical funds required to expand our biomarker development for not just other cancer types but also a multitude of various other diseases which have classically lacked in research and diagnostic improvements or knowledge, such as endometriosis.