ISET test results show substantial improvement in early detection of prostate cancer by identifying PSA-positive Circulating Tumor Cells

Rarecells, Inc. (USA), a leading Liquid Biopsy company, is pleased to announce that National Institute of Integrative Medicine’s (Melbourne, Australia) researchers obtained striking results in a group of Australian men using the ISET® test for early prostate cancer diagnosis through the detection of Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) positive Circulating Tumor Cells (CTC).

The peer-reviewed article published in the journal Frontiers in Oncology (article), shows that the prostate cancer test based on CTC harvested with the ISET^® technology and identified by the Immuno-Cytochemistry (ICC) PSA marker has an estimated positive-predictive-value (PPV) of 99% and negative-predictive-value (NPV) of 97%, providing a more reliable screening test for prostate cancer than the standard PSA blood test (PPV = 25%; NPV = 15.5%).  

Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer and the fifth leading cause of cancer deaths in men worldwide. Due to the limited sensitivity and specificity of the standard PSA test, a relevant proportion, close to 75%, of unnecessary prostate biopsies are performed every year, generating avoidable costs and suffering.

“This new non-invasive test based on ISET^® technology allows for early detection of prostate cancer more accurately than the standard PSA test. Improving the accuracy of tests for early cancer detection may reduce the burden of unnecessary biopsies,” said NIIM Director of Research, and Chief Investigator Associate Professor Karin Ried.

Davide Brechot, Deputy Director and CTO at Rarecells commented: “NIIM’s preliminary data obtained with the ISET technology opens the way to a more reliable prostate cancer screening test driving earlier curative interventions while reducing unnecessary, painful and costly prostate biopsies. They add to the body of published evidence of ISET technology’s excellence in cancer diagnostics and management “

ISET has been validated by more than 85 independent scientific publications on 3,400 cancer patients and more than 1,200 cancer-free individuals (see www.rarecells.com). It demonstrates unparalleled performance for the isolation and characterization of individual CTC and CTC clusters.