 It is estimated that there are currently (2006) in excess of 3.6 million cystoscopies for TCC (Transitional Cell Cancer of the bladder) carried out each year in Europe and the USA. These diagnostic approaches are invariably invasive and uncomfortable for the patient, requiring local or general anaesthetic, and hence hospital out-patient (office procedures) or in-patient procedures. They are therefore expensive to administer.
Many urologists accept the theoretical advantages of a simple, cheap non-invasive urine test for bladder cancer, but are looking for superior sensitivity and specificity performance over conventional cytology before they commit to using a new technology.
Based on other applications of MCM protein antibody diagnostics, one of the primary anticipated benefits of this technique in the detection of bladder cancers is the major reduction in the number of false negative results – a phenomenon which has been described as “biologically unique”. (False negatives can run as high as 30% in conventional cytology for other cancer-based disease.)
The other main advantages of Cytosystems’ MCM protein antibody diagnostics for the detection of bladder cancer are:
- Rapid laboratory-based test procedures using conventional liquid-based cytology (LBC) and hence laboratory equipment which already exists
- Reliable reproducible data with consistent and clear results
Cytosystems’ unique diagnostics technique – “the Cytosystems solution” - comprises four distinct but integrated components:
- A urine collection device
- A set of urine collection protocols, utilising previously unpublished data, to optimise cell harvesting
- The underpinning Cancer Research Technology MCM antibody
- An automated slide reading system
|
