RICHMOND, British Columbia, Nov. 7, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- BioCurex Inc. (OTCBB:BOCX) today commented on the PSA velocity study published on Nov. 1 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). In this study, the authors studied the increase of PSA ("velocity") in serum samples from 980 men monitored since 1958. The authors evaluated the association between PSA velocity and death from prostate cancer during the period of 10-15 years before diagnosis. The authors conclude that PSA velocity provides information early in the disease course that is related to the chance of dying of prostate cancer, before diagnosis, when PSA levels are below 4.0 ng/mL (the current threshold above which cancer is suspected), and at a time when cure might be still possible with local therapy (surgery or radiation). However, the authors make it clear that this is a possibility and not a fact as they add: "Thirdly, we cannot be certain that if a life-threatening prostate cancer had been identified by PSA velocity earlier in the natural history of the disease, treatment at that point in time would have changed the outcome. Rather, PSA velocity might identify men who are destined to succumb to their disease in spite of curative intervention."
The authors also found that there was no statistically significant interaction between PSA velocity and date of diagnosis, which suggests that PSA velocity works better as indicator of disease that is destined to progress and threaten life. Finally, the authors state that, "No PSA level or PSA velocity cut off point achieved both high sensitivity and specificity. The area under the ROC was 0.74 for PSA level and 0.75 for PSA velocity when PSA values were restricted to below 4.0 ng/mL."
All of the above suggest that PSA velocity could perform better as a tool for prognosis rather than diagnosis.
Dr. Ricardo Moro, President and CEO, noted: "This is a thorough study that emphasizes the value of continuous PSA testing for men over the age of 40. The information presented notes that by comparing the PSA value year over year, one is able to prognosticate death from prostate cancer. However, this is not a good tool for cancer diagnosis and particularly for early cancer diagnosis. Obviously, one would rather use a tool that prevents the death by prostate cancer (or any other cancer) and it is a well known fact that, in general, the earlier the cancer is detected, the higher is the rate of cure. At the risk of sounding partial to our technology, RECAF has been shown to perform well in detecting early cancers of the prostate, breast and probably many others we have not yet studied. As a matter of fact in a study we presented at an international cancer congress, we detected twice as many prostate cancers as PSA.
"The problem with PSA is that the marker is not ideal because it is made by cancer cells as well as by normal and benign tumor cells. It does not matter what variation of the PSA theme is used, it is unlikely to improve the early detection of cancer. The ROC values presented in the referenced study are 0.74-0.75 out of a maximum of 1.0. A ROC is the statistic we use to calculate the sensitivity and specificity of a test. Perfect discrimination between cancers and non-cancers (100% sensitivity and 100% specificity) has a ROC value of 1.0 and a total lack of discrimination has a ROC of 0.5 (the values are the area under a curve, not the actual sensitivity or specificity). In our studies with RECAF, we normally obtain ROC values over 0.90.
"In reference to the PSA velocity paper published in the journal of the NCI, we anticipated the potential advantage of using `RECAF velocity' in our press release of May 16, 2006. We advanced the notion that the `personification' of periodic blood tests would likely provide a more accurate and specific indication of an individual's cancer status in comparison to a single blood test, which only measured a `one time' value of the cancer marker. The advantage, of course, is that RECAF appears to be significantly better as a cancer marker than PSA and therefore we would be able to make a much earlier diagnosis -- as opposed to prognosis -- of prostate cancer and act accordingly. Moreover, the cost would be much lower, since screening with PSA only helps diagnose prostate cancer, whereas screening with RECAF would help the diagnosis of many, if not most of the cancers a person can suffer."
For more information on PSA velocity click on: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061031/hl_nm/cancer_prostate_dc_1
About BioCurex:
BioCurex, Inc. is a biotechnology company that is developing products based on patented/proprietary technology in the areas of cancer diagnosis, imaging and therapy. The technology identifies a cancer marker known as RECAF(tm), which is found on malignant cells from a variety of cancer types but is absent in most normal or benign cells.
BioCurex has signed a licensing agreement with Abbott Laboratories for BioCurex's RECAF(tm) Cancer technology as outlined in a joint press release dated March 29, 2005. The release noted that the cancer marker RECAF(tm) 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.
To read more about the Company, please visit the News section in our web site (www.biocurex.com).
Note:
The Company has not authorized the release of this information in any form that contravenes the Communication Act and will not be responsible for unsolicited massive distribution of this material by e-mail or facsimile by unauthorized parties. Statements in this press release, which are not historical facts, are "forward-looking statements'' within the meaning given to that term in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company intends that such forward-looking statements be subject to the safe harbors created thereby. Since these statements involve risks and uncertainties and are subject to change at any time, the Company's actual results could differ materially from expected results.