Biopsy Protein Marker Could Be Used For Very Early Detection.(Brief Article)

2001 SEP 6- (NewsRx Network) - Samaritan Research Laboratories of Samaritan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (SPHC), has finalized an exclusive worldwide licensing agreement to champion a patent that could be developed as a tool for early detection and eventually even treatment of breast cancer.

The patent, entitled, "Peripheral-type Benzodiazepine Receptor: A Tool for Detection, Diagnosis, Prognosis, and Treatment of Human Breast Cancer," names Vassilios Papadopoulos and Martine Culty of Georgetown University as its inventors and identifies a protein named Peripheral-type Benzodiazepine Receptor (PBR) to be responsible for part of the changes in cellular and molecular functions in the development and progression of breast cancer.

Although today there are methods for the detection of breast tumors, such as mammogram, little is known about the early prognosis of a tumor and its progression to metastatic disease. Georgetown's scientists have identified a correlation between high levels of PBR and the aggressiveness of a tumor. Biopsies, considered to be safe procedures, would be used to measure for PBR and if the levels are high, scientists believe it could serve as a marker for early detection, diagnosis, and prognosis.

Georgetown's research efforts toward this patent have accumulated over an eight-year period and, in addition, Samaritan plans to explore research seeking possible prevention technology and drugs to inhibit, block, or arrest the production of this protein (PBR) identified as a marker with breast cancer.

Papadopoulos, the head of the division of hormone research and professor of cell biology at Georgetown University Medical Center stated, "There is no question today that the war on cancer is winnable as promising therapies become available. Our goal is to detect precisely which molecular processes have gone wrong, specifically ...