The Problem
Prostate Cancer is the second deadliest cancer for American men, it will kill a projected 29,430 in 2018. Simultaneously, it is overdiagnosed and overtreated in men with indolent prostate cancer. This leads to unnecessary treatments such as prostatectomy and radiation therapy.
PSA: An Imperfect Screening Tool
Prostate Specific Antigen or PSA is currently the standard test used for prostate cancer screening. However, it has several shortcomings, including:
- PSA can be elevated for reasons other than Prostate Cancer.
- PSA and its variants miss a large portion of aggressive Prostate Cancers.
- PSA can’t distinguish between indolent and aggressive prostate cancers. Leading many patients to undergo unnecessary treatments.
Screening is Declining
Because the PSA test is no longer recommended, screening rates of men in the United States have declined. Lower screening reduces the overdiagnosis and overtreatment of Prostate Cancer as intended by the recommendation. However, by screening less men for Prostate Cancer, the aggressive cancers will also be missed. This will lead to more avoidable Prostate Cancer deaths in the future. Let's not abandon screening; let's build a better screening test.
THE MISSION
To Screen for and Determine the Aggressiveness of Prostate Cancer.
The Solution
Using seminal fluid as a sample source; develop a screening test that can accurately determine if an asymptomatic patient has no cancer, indolent cancer, or aggressive cancer.
Why Seminal Fluid?
The prostate produces about out 30% of the total volume seminal fluid; this gives it the distinct advantage of having direct, non-invasive access to prostate cancer biomarkers. These important biomarkers would be undetectable at the same stage of cancer development by other sample types such as blood or urine. The sample collection allows for a wide reach as patients can produce the sample in the privacy of their own home and ship the sample back to the lab.
The Seminal Fluid Advantage
Over 250,000X more biomarker in Seminal Fluid than in blood serum.
Biomarkers
A broad range of biomarkers have been described that are able to detect cancer and discriminate between indolent and aggressive cancer. These include methylated DNA, micro RNA, mRNA expression, gene fusions, and proteins.
Gregor will leverage the most promising combination of markers and methods to screen for prostate cancer.
Sample Stability
Gregor has developed a proprietary system to maintain biomarker stability in the seminal fluid. This will allow samples to be collected in the comfort of the patient's home and shipped back to Gregor's laboratory. The sample stability system will allow the prostate cancer screening test to be used by men in even the most remote areas.
Contact Us
Gregor Diagnostics Inc.
316 W. Washington Avenue, STE 675
Madison, WI 53703
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