Project description
Prostate cancer: more accurate diagnoses, fewer biopsies and better outcomes
Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men worldwide, with more than a million new cases in 2018 alone. As with most diseases, early detection typically leads to better outcomes. Currently, prostate cancer is detected based on a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test that assesses the level of PSA circulating in the bloodstream. If that level is considered abnormally high, the test is followed by a biopsy. The British SME Arcis Biotechnology Holdings has developed the patented PROSKit to sample urine. It is simpler, faster, less expensive and more accurate than the current PSA blood test. EU funding of the PROSKit project is helping the company validate the technology and secure agreements for market distribution. Availability should expand testing to save lives, while simultaneously decreasing unnecessary biopsies.
Objective
Arcis Biotechnology Holdings developed and patented PROSKit, a molecular diagnostic platform for the diagnosis of prostate cancer based on urine analysis, able to reduce the number of false positive from the PSA test and so the number of unnecessary biopsies. PROSKit is a proprietary mix of chemicals, that can stabilise nucleic acids (RNA/DNA) in urine for up to 2 weeks at room temperature and then allow sampling at home or Point of Care (PoC) using a patient-friendly sample collection technology, preserving unstable RNA biomarkers and analysis in specialized clinical environment through the PCA3 biomarker. With respect to current diagnostic methods (PSA + biopsy), PROSKit offers i) Rapid- samples ready for analysis in <3 minutes, results in <2 hours if tested at surgery, compared to days for biopsy, ii) Accurate- greater sensitivity and specificity than current PSA blood test: PCA3 presents a 28% higher discriminative capability than PSA; iii) Inexpensive- as informative as multi-core biopsy for <10% of the price; iv) High throughput- PROSKit samples can be collected anywhere, non-invasively and thousands analysed simultaneously at a central location. Compared to competitors proposing RNA stabilization requiring laboratory analyses, complex procedures and specific tools, PROSKit offers stabilization at room temperature and with no lab equipment in 3 minutes. Intact amplifiable RNA biomarkers have already been validated for 7 days stability but needs to extend validation for >14 days, validate the protocol for patients to collect urine and analysts to perform assay; certify design of PROSKit device and cost for the device and define agreement with partners for distribution and license for execution of tests. DNA/RNA Sample preparation business market revenues are expected to reach 1.85 billion € in 2025. Kits segment represents 60% of the market: 1.11 billion € in 2025.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicineoncologyprostate cancer
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculesnucleic acids
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesgeneticsDNA
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesgeneticsRNA
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Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1Coordinator
WA4 4FS DARESBURY WARRINGTON
United Kingdom
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.