UCD, Source MDX to Develop
Diagnostics for Melanoma, Psoriasis
The University of Colorado Denver and Source MDx have entered a research collaboration to develop molecular diagnostic tests for early diagnosis and prognosis of skin diseases, including melanoma and psoriasis. Research will be based on Source MDx’s patented molecular medicine technology.
“ Early detection and accurate staging of melanoma is critical to the management of melanoma, and identifying the patients who will show progression to metastatic disease is important to direct an appropriate treatment regimen,” said Mayumi Fujita, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Dermatology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. “Malignant melanoma, when detected prior to progression, is a highly curable malignancy. There is clearly an unmet clinical need for improved predictive biomarkers of regional spread in clinically localized primary melanomas.”
Fujita collaborates closely with William A. Robinson, MD, professor of medical oncology at the school.
Malignant melanoma is the most aggressive and life-threatening skin cancer, and has a high tendency to spread to other parts of the body. The American Cancer Society projects that more than 62,000 Americans will be diagnosed with melanoma in 2006, and the cumulative lifetime risk for melanoma is now estimated to be around one in 65 in the United States.
The melanoma research collaboration between UCD and SourceMDx will focus on the development of blood biomarkers to screen patients for sentinel lymph node (SLN) surgery and provide predictors for melanoma prognosis. SLN surgery is now the primary predictor of melanoma prognosis. A critical unmet need exists for diagnostic tests based on blood samples to replace this expensive, invasive surgery. SLN major surgery costs $6,000 to $7,000 per patient and patient outcome results show that only approximately one in five SLN surgeries result in positive diagnosis of metastases.
SLN surgery is a key predictor in other cancers, including breast and liver cancers, which also have a critical unmet need for blood tests to screen patients for this expensive and risky surgery. The melanoma biomarker research collaboration also will focus on blood and tissue samples from late-stage melanoma patients, and will be used for molecular profiling of response to drug therapy that may have therapeutic benefits.
The National Psoriasis Foundation estimates that more than 4.5 million Americans are affected by psoriasis and reports that in a survey nearly 60 percent of those with psoriasis reported their disease to be a large problem in their everyday life. The research collaboration will focus on mechanism of action studies with anti-TNF biological agents and other anti-cytokine biological therapeutic agents in chronic plaque psoriasis.
Carl Edwards, PhD, an associate professor in the CU School of Medicine’s Department of Dermatology, said he was pleased to participate in university/industry research collaboration, along with department chair David Norris, MD, and Charles Dinarello, MD, professor of medicine and a recognized cytokine expert at the school.
“ We strongly believe we can work closely with the scientists at Source MDx to identify subpopulations of psoriasis patients with different clinical status as well as help clinicians in the future determine which type of anti-TNF agent these patients should receive,” Edwards said.
Bunki Davis, senior vice president of Source MDx, said, “We are pleased to work with UCD, which is one of the leading academic research centers for skin cancer and other skin diseases in the United States.
“ These collaboration studies are designed to capture gene expression and clinical observation data to stratify skin disease patients into molecular subpopulations to further characterize the disease and develop early diagnosis and prognosis molecular tests,” she added.
