• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

AviaraDx, Inc. Announces Publication of Study With Baylor College of Medicine Demonstrating a Novel Two-Gene Ratio Is a Prognostic Indicator of Breast Cancer Recurrence Risk

Posted on: Thursday, 12 October 2006, 09:00 CDT

CARLSBAD, Calif., Oct. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- AviaraDx, Inc., a leader in molecular cancer profiling, announced today that a study, conducted in collaboration with Baylor College of Medicine, further demonstrated the clinical utility of two novel genes for the identification of patients at higher risk for early breast cancer recurrence. This study has been published in the October issue of Journal of Clinical Oncology.

The 852-patient retrospective study confirms the original discovery of the two-gene ratio of HOXB13/IL17BR (H/I) as an independent prognostic marker for risk of recurrence in tamoxifen-treated, estrogen receptor positive (ER+) and lymph node negative patients. Beyond this, the study results also extend the prognostic utility of the H/I ratio to untreated patients. Therefore, it has been established that the H/I ratio is a strong independent prognostic marker in patients with or without anti-hormonal treatment.

"The study with Baylor College of Medicine is the third in a series of clinical studies conducted to validate the clinical utility of the H/I ratio as a very significant prognostic biomarker in ER+ breast cancer patients," said Antonius Schuh, Chief Executive Officer of AviaraDx. "We are excited about the rapidly growing body of evidence supporting the clinical utility of HOXB13 and IL17BR in the prediction of breast cancer recurrence risk and expect additional clinical data to be published in the near future."

"Breast cancer patients face a number of difficult decisions when it comes to making choices about treatment," said Richard A. Bender, M.D., F.A.C.P, Medical Director for Oncology, Quest Diagnostics Nichols Institute and Adjunct Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, Irvine School of Medicine. "An H/I ratio can help doctors and estrogen-receptor positive, node-negative patients make more informed decisions on how aggressively to manage this complex disease."

AviaraDx discovered both biomarkers in a collaborative study with Harvard Medical School and Mass. General Hospital, which was published in the June 2004 issue of Cancer Cell. As a result of this study, these two biomarkers serve as the foundation of the AviaraDx Breast Cancer Profiling (BCP) Technology. In April of 2006 a collaborative study with Mayo Clinic, showing significant clinical utility of H/I in patients treated with tamoxifen, was published in Clinical Cancer Research.

Breast cancer is diagnosed in over 200,000 women and claims the lives of over 40,000 each year in the United States alone. Approximately 70% of breast cancers are estrogen receptor positive, and most of these are early stage (lymph node negative).

About AviaraDx, Inc.

AviaraDx, Inc., is focused on developing and commercializing molecular diagnostic technologies for personalized medicine in cancer treatment. The company is targeting the oncology market with three first-in-class molecular cancer profiling technologies: Molecular Cancer Identification (MCID), Breast Cancer Profiling (BCP) and Drug Response Profiling (DRP). AviaraDx has licensed its technologies for specific clinical indications to Quest Diagnostics, Laboratory Corporation of America and Agendia BV. The Company anticipates operating its own CLIA certified diagnostic laboratory in early 2007 to complement its current partner offerings. Please visit the AviaraDx website at https://www.aviaradx.com/ for more information.

CONTACT: Sherri' Heffner AviaraDx, Inc. 760-579-0513 sheffner@aviaradx.com

AviaraDx, Inc.

CONTACT: Sherri' Heffner of AviaraDx, Inc., +1-760-579-0513, orsheffner@aviaradx.com

Web site: http://www.aviaradx.com/

Source: PRNewswire

More News in this Category