(CNN)--Johnson & Johnson will collaborate with Massachusetts General Hospital to develop and market a blood test that could find a single cell that circulates in the blood cancer of a person, the company said Monday.
Researchers hope that the test will be used by oncologists as a diagnostic tool designed to discover haste if a cancer has spread, as well as by researchers at coming up with new drug therapies.
Dr. Mehmet Toner, Director of the Center resources BioMicroElectroMechanical Systems at the center of the Massachusetts General technology in medicine, says while it will take at least five years before the test is on the market, is another step towards personalized medicine and the consequences for patients is important. "It is too big. Has the potential to transform the cancer in a chronic diseases, because we keep track of individual patients and to respond to treatment for the genetic makeup of their cancer. "
Toner says the test is like a damp biopsy and seeks almost all solid cancers--cancers found solid organs such as the breast or prostate. Will be analyzed cells cancer finds and genetic makeup is determined, something which would be useful to patient follow-up and targeted treatments for this person.
Veridex, a Johnson and Johnson company, announced a partnership in a statement saying implies Ortho Biotech Oncology Research and development, a unit of Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical research and development.
"This new technology has the potential to facilitate an easy-to-manage, noninvasive blood test that will allow us to count cells that volume, and to characterize the biology of cells," said Robert McCormack, Chief Veridex strategy and technological innovation. "The use of the information contained in these cells in a clinic setting in vitro could allow Editing tools to select and monitor how responding patients".
Veridex launched the first commercial test using technology cell traffic volume in 2004, the company said. Describes traffic volume as cells cancer cells that have been cut from a volume and located at very low levels in the bloodstream. Recording and counting those cells can provide information about patients and doctors prognoses with certain types of metastatic cancer, said the Declaration.
"The value recording and counting CTCs evolve as collected more data survey about the utility of these indicators to monitor the progression of the disease and the guidance potentially personalized cancer therapies," the statement said Veridex.
Toner said it is possible to find a single cell volume traffic across the cells blood 5–10 billion was settled. In reality, one tube of blood taken during the annual examinations will have only a few CTCs.
"The challenging objective of sorting extremely rare traffic volume cells from blood requires continuous technological, biological and clinical innovation to explore fully the utility of these precious cells in Clinical Oncology," said toner. "We have developed and continue to develop a wide range of technologies that are evolving what we know about cancer and cancer care."
The American company cancer said the reinvestigation is exciting, but it is important to remember is simply another step in the scientific process. "Researchers working on this and similar technologies for some time, and others have drawn up a day when we will be able to diagnose cancers before otherwise visible from current techniques," said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, the Group's Deputy Chief Medical Officer. "It is appropriate to view announcements like the one today with enthusiasm, but recognizes that we must temper this excited with the realization that there is still a substantial amount of research to be done to determine the actual effect of this on the treatment of patients with cancer."CNN Jennifer Bixler contributed to this report.
