PrediLife said it will carry out genetic analyses in connection with its MammoRisk personalized breast cancer screening test through a partnership with the Institut Curie whose value was not disclosed.
MammoRisk is a test designed to predict breast cancer risk through a polygenic score based on a saliva sample. Envisioned as a complement to mammograms, MammoRisk aims to predict the risk of breast cancer by taking into account five risk factors: A patient’s age, breast density, family history (0, 1 or more antecedents), breast biopsy history and the polygenic score.
According to PrediLife, the polygenic score results from analysis of hundreds of thousands of genome variations, polymorphisms or SNPs (single-nucleotide polymorphisms). PrediLife markets MammoRisk and its proprietary DenSeeMammo software for measuring breast density in Europe and the U.S.
“PrediLife’s approach of incorporating various different factors, including combinations of SNPs, is an interesting one, which may even be useful for women with a hereditary genetic predisposition (e.g., BRCA1, BRCA2),” Prof. Dominique Stoppa-Lyonnet, MD, PhD, Head of Institut Curie’s genetics department and Professor at Université Paris-Descartes, said in a statement.
“The aim of the partnership is to carry out part of the MammoRisk® test and, ultimately, to accelerate the research projects already being conducted by the Institut Curie’s genetics department in this field,” Stoppa-Lyonnet added.
In their collaboration, PrediLife and the Institut Curie plan to study an initial approximately 100 polymorphisms associated with a higher risk of breast cancer, with the Institut Curie performing the genetic analyses incorporated in the MammoRisk score.
Following that study, PrediLife and the Institut Curie have agreed to pursue additional research projects.
The collaboration is intended to draw upon the breast cancer expertise of the Institut Curie, Europe’s largest center for the treatment of women with cancer, and PrediLife’s experience in developing and marketing breast cancer tests.
Subsequently, PrediLife and the Institut Curie said, they will pursue additional research projects by capitalizing on the tight fit between the breast cancer expertise of the Institut Curie, Europe’s largest center for the treatment of women with cancer, and PrediLife’s ability to develop and market these tests.
“This agreement exemplifies perfectly the Institut Curie’s joined-up co-development approach, which brings together clinicians, researchers and partner businesses,” added Amaury Martin, Executive Director of Institut Curie Technology Transfer and Industrial Partnerships Department and of Institut Carnot Curie Cancer. “That shows the Institut Carnot’s appeal for the development of partnership-based research and underpins the Institut Curie’s positioning as a leading player in the development and use of new technologies to improve the treatment of cancer patients.”
