Cancer Blood Test Shipped to Labs Worldwide

The new format of a cancer blood test can be easily shipped and performed in clinical labs throughout the world without the proprietary restrictions of automatic instruments.

The rapid, point-of-care blood test called alpha fetoprotein receptor-enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay (RECAF-ELISA), is also intended for use at the doctor's office and should not be confused with ELISA, radioimmunoassay (RIA), or chemiluminescence, which are used in the laboratory for manual or automated testing.

The test was developed by BioCurex (Richmond, BC, Canada) using RECAF technology. RECAF is a cancer marker found on malignant cells from a variety of cancer types but absent in most normal or benign cells. It has emerged as a potential biomarker that may be useful in the development of new cancer diagnostics tests. Preliminary studies from the investigators at BioCurex have reported a high level of clinical sensitivity and specificity for RECAF in many of the most common cancers, including prostate, breast, colorectal, lung, and others.

Whereas the RECAF test can operate on some automated instruments, the new format is designed for standard 96-well ELISA plates. The company aims to disseminate samples of the RECAF tests among many different laboratories to further evaluate, validate, and expand Biocurex's test results. The second objective is the prompt commercialization of these tests, directly by BioCurex or through its licensees.

BioCurex reported the results obtained using the RECAF-ELISA test on 77 bladder, kidney, stomach, and other types of cancer samples in comparison to 93 normal donor samples. It also compared the results with the chemiluminescence format. The results evince a sensitivity of 90% with 95% specificity.

Dr. Ricardo Moro, CEO of BioCurex, stated that the new format of the test "demonstrates our success in understanding the very unusual chemistry of RECAF well enough to suit the practical needs of a commercial test. The results are excellent and provide further evidence of the value of the RECAF blood test for cancer detection. Furthermore, our results with both formats show that bladder and kidney cancers are also detected with high sensitivity and specificity.”

The work was done in collaboration with the Blokhin Cancer Research Center (Moscow, Russia).


Related Links:
BioCurex
Blokhin Cancer Research Center