OUR Technology
Committed to continuous innovation in oncology care.
Committed to continuous innovation in oncology care.
We are building an ecosystem of products that we believe will change how cancer is treated and managed.
From Hypothesis to Real-Word Application
To advance precision medicine in oncology we are pursuing novel markers and pathways to create advanced tools that better support patients and their care teams. Our current diagnostic pipeline includes tests intended to improve treatment planning and outcomes for patients with breast cancer and those at risk of lung cancer.
Product Pipeline
miRNAs and Gene Expression
Discovered relatively recently, microRNAs (miRNAs) are short, non-coding RNA molecules.¹ They serve a critical role in regulating gene expression and cell function and are believed to help control RNA stability. Historically, researchers believed RNA molecules would not be robust biomarkers in blood samples due to the presence of nucleases; however, this notion was eventually dismissed when miRNAs were discovered in fixed tissue. Additional research has also shown that these molecules are consistently present and stable in blood.
Given their fundamental role in biological processes, as well as their ubiquity within many bodily fluids, miRNAs provide novel avenues for development of anti-cancer therapies and diagnostic tools. More recent research has shown they are powerful biomarkers for the early detection of imperceptible or asymptomatic cancers.¹
The proprietary MSC assay utilizes miRNAs to improve the accuracy of LDCT in turn enabling more informed treatment planning for patients with lung nodules and a five-fold reduction in false positives as compared to LDCT alone.²
Stem Cell Hypothesis
Broadly, the cancer stem cell hypothesis proposes that solid tumors are composed of subsets of tumor cells and tumor-initiating cells, or cancer stem cells, that are in a quiescent state characterized by slow cell cycling and the presence of cell surface markers that enable tumor maintenance in vivo.¹ Cancer stem cells have unlimited self-renewal abilities and propagate tumors through division into differentiated daughter cells. A hallmark of these cells is their resistance to chemotherapy and radiation, which is likely due to their quiescent state and slow dividing.
Of note, cancer stem cells can differentiate into a variety of different phenotypes including non-tumorigenic cells. This has been touted as the source of tumor heterogeneity which markedly influences patient prognosis and how tumors respond to therapy.
Our lead “stemness” product, the proprietary StemPrintER assay, leverages the tumor stem cell hypothesis to predict breast cancer recurrence risk.
References: 1) Metcalf, G. Oncogene. 2024; 2) Sozzi, et al. J Clin Oncol. 2014
