Quest Diagnostics will work on a blood test for cancer risk it says may help identify people who could benefit from more frequent screenings using technology developed at the MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Dubbed the multi-cancer stratification test, or MCaST, Quest said it has licensed the center’s liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry approach to help build its own offering, which will aim to capture protein biomarkers circulating in the bloodstream that are associated with elevated risks for several different tumors.
That includes colorectal, lung, breast, pancreatic, ovarian, liver, prostate, esophageal and stomach cancers, together representing about 85% of all cases diagnosed in the U.S. Quest has set a goal for a commercial debut next year.
“One of the biggest problems in cancer care today is patients skipping preventive screenings because the methods are too invasive, inconvenient or unaffordable,” Mark Gardner, Quest’s senior vice president for oncology, genomics and R&D, said in a statement. “Another huge problem is a lack of tests for infrequent, but often deadly cancers, like pancreatic cancer.”
The MCaST risk model was developed in the laboratory of Samir Hanash, M.D., Ph.D., director of MD Anderson’s Red and Charline McCombs Institute for the Early Detection and Treatment of Cancer. According to the company, Hanash and his team identified the set of biomarkers from among screening study cohorts of tens of thousands of people.
Quest said it expects the new test to supplement conventional screening practices, which typically target one type of cancer at a time based on a person’s age. And, while early detection blood tests to spot DNA linked to multiple cancers are making strides—such as Grail’s Galleri test—those types of liquid biopsies are not intended to personalize an individual’s overall risk level.
“A patient identified with elevated risk may be more inclined to pursue preventive cancer screening or other medical assessments that could identify cancer in early, more treatable stages of disease,” Gardner said.