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Please Note: The technology listed below is not available to the public at this time. This technology is in the early stage of research and requires further development before it is ready for the marketplace. The VA is currently in the process of identifying potential companies who may be interested in licensing and/or further developing the technology through Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADA). Through cooperative research initiatives such as these, it is our hope and goal that commercial products will be fully developed and made available to benefit veterans and others.
VA TECHNOLOGY OPPORTUNITY BRIEF
Diagnosis and Monitoring of Prostate Cancer Patients by Measurement of Serum
Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor.
(03-044)
OPPORTUNITY:
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is seeking a commercial partner to further
develop this technology through a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement
(CRADA) to expedite bringing it to market.
BACKGROUND:
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer found in men and is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States. The American Cancer Society estimates that more than 220,900 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed in 2003 and about 29,000 men will die from the disease. Annual prostate cancer screening is recommended for men over the age of 50. This consists of the analysis of the blood serum for prostate specific antigen (PSA) and a digital rectal exam. Unfortunately, the PSA test does not always identify patients with prostate cancer. In addition, an elevated PSA level does not necessarily mean the presence of cancer and the PSA test cannot distinguish aggressive prostate cancer, which makes it difficult for the physician to prescribe the correct course of treatment.
TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW:
An alternate serum test would benefit the patient and physician for the diagnosis and prognosis of prostate cancer. This technology describes such a serum-based test. The test uses the same serum samples that are currently drawn for the routine PSA screening test, with correlations between serum marker levels and disease conditions improved over those of the PSA test. Performance relative to other emerging serum assays for prostate cancer is not known.
TECHNICAL MERIT:
Cytokines are a class of chemical mediator molecules that modulate cell growth by inducing specific target gene expression. Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is a cytokine that was first discovered 30 years ago and initially described as a regulator of inflammation and immunity. In order to study the clinical utility of serum evaluation of MIF in patients undergoing routine PSA screening, the investigators undertook a retrospective clinical study. For this, they developed an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to determine MIF concentration in human serum samples. A polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based assay was used to study the association between MIF expression and prostate cancer.
An evaluation of serum MIF levels in prostate cancer patients identified a positive correlation between elevated serum concentrations of MIF and prostate cancer. These results demonstrate that MIF has the potential to become a serum-based assay for the diagnosis of prostate cancer. The samples were analyzed for MIF and the results compared with the previous PSA data. The results identified a positive association between elevated MIF serum concentrations and prostate cancer. (The prostate cancer patients did not all have elevated PSA, some had undergone therapy, which lowered serum PSA, but had no effect on serum MIF). A correlation of serum MIF levels with a diagnosis of prostate cancer demonstrated that patients with a previous diagnosis of prostate cancer were found to have significantly elevated levels of serum MIF.
POTENTIAL APPLICATION:
In addition, as elevated MIF levels were also found to correlate with the severity of prostate disease, this technology also has application for use as a prognostic indicator of the progression of prostate cancer chemotherapy.
PATENT STATUS:
U.S. Patent issued on April 22, 2008 (7,361,474)
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Saleem Sheredos
Program Manager
Technology Transfer Program
Veterans Affairs
Office of Research & Development (12TT)
5th Floor
103 South Gay Street
Baltimore, MD 21202
202-380-5080
Fax 410.962.2141
e-mail: saleem.sheredos@va.gov
Last Updated - July 30, 2008