Aqsens Health and Turku University Hospital begin a project to assess a novel biosensor method for the early detection of metastatic cancers
Turku, Finland. Aqsens Health Oy begins a new research collaboration to assess the biosensor method in the detection of different metastatic cancers using urine samples. The BIOURICA research study brings together Aqsens Health Oy’s scientific team and the Turku University Hospital (TYKS) researcher, adjunct professor and Clinical Oncologist Dr. Maria Sundvall.
The aim of the BIOURICA research project is to further develop the AQ biosensor and E-TRF method in the detection of metastasis in cancer and to validate its sensitivity and specificity in cancer diagnostics. The research project is built on Aqsens Health’s earlier findings reached together with the Helsinki University Hospital and University of the Eastern Finland.
The study could help recognize new cancer biomarkers and in the best case scenario also enable more effective cancer treatment monitoring.
In addition to the University of Turku, the University of Eastern Finland and the University of Oulu will also bring their expertise to the project. The UEF and the UO will help in the investigation of the biosensor interactions with the sample molecules and in characterizing the likely new urine biomarkers for early-stage cancer detection.
During the research study the Turku University Hospital’s Department of Oncology will recruit 300 cancer patients with six different types of cancer, and sample blood and urine of the patients. The urine samples will be analyzed using Aqsens Health’s phage-based biosensor and E-TRF technology, and further verified with mass spectrometry and NMR-based methods to characterize the biosensor-biomarker interactions. The biosensors sensitivity and specificity to detect cancer will also be estimated by comparing the results to standard clinical cancer diagnostics, including biopsy analysis and imaging.
Early detection of cancer is key for effective cancer diagnostics and treatment, particularly when cancer metastasis could be avoided. It is important to develop sensitive tests that can identify cancer as early as possible and inform treating physicians whether it has spread elsewhere, so that the right treatment can be started as early as possible.
“The importance of developing a new cost-effective and non-invasive method to detect metastatic cancers from urine is enormous. Aqsens Health has promising results and theory to detect metastatic prostate cancer, and with this project we can further validate its capabilities, test its potential in different cancer types, and to understand mechanisms behind the detection,” says Dr. Maria Sundvall.
“To assess our biosensors sensitivity and specificity to detect different metastatic cancers in a large independent cohort of cancer patients is a very important effort for us and our collaborators in order to build a portfolio of accurate urine-based tests for urinary tract cancers,” says Aqsens Health’s clinical research director Ville Pimenoff.
The BIOURICA research project has just been approved by VSSHP’s (The Hospital District of Southwest Finland) Ethics Committee and the recruitment of the research study is set to begin in autumn 2022 at the Turku University Hospital.
For more information, contact:
CEO and Co-Founder
Timo Teimonen
+358 40 5853105
timo.teimonen@aqsens.com
