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Glomming Onto Proteins to Detect Cancer Early On
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-15/glomming-onto-proteins-to-detect-cancer-early-on.htmlLung cancer is often diagnosed too late for treatment to help. That's part of the reason why it's the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. Early detection makes a difference -- 86 percent of patients with timely diagnoses who undergo surgery survive for five years.
Among the most promising technologies to find early-stage lung cancer is a new type of synthetic molecule that identifies and fits onto proteins that cancer and other diseases dump into the blood. Made by SomaLogic in Boulder, Colo., the new molecules detected early-stage lung cancer in the blood of 90 percent of heavy smokers, a 2011 study showed. SomaLogic's molecular cancer sleuths were fast, too, analyzing 1,300 lung cancer samples in two weeks, whereas other methods can take months, require larger samples, or cost more.
The lung cancer protein binders are just a few of the 1,600 molecules SomaLogic has created since Chief Executive Officer Larry Gold, 70, founded it 12 years ago. They are a new type of biomarker that may tip off doctors to illnesses early on. The lung cancer study showed that the technology works, and last November the company licensed its molecules to Novartis AG for drug development. In February, SomaLogic unveiled its technology to the molecular medicine community. They'll be used in tests by Quest Diagnostics this summer. Gold's goal is to create a "wellness chip" that uses the molecules to quickly screen a blood sample for hundreds of diseases.
Gold helped invent the precursor to SomaLogic's protein-snaring molecules 20 years ago, pioneering the science of finding proteins associated with disease and eventually creating new drugs for treatment, a growing field known as proteomics. He also founded NeXstar Pharmaceuticals (merged in 1999 with Gilead Sciences) and co-founded Synergen (acquired by Amgen in 1994). He spoke recently with Bloomberg.com contributor Karen A. Frenkel:
