Research Areas: Breast Cancer

Correlogic and scientists from Walter Reed Army Medical Center’s Clinical Breast Care Project and associated clinical institutions are engaged in a collaboration employing Correlogic’s “Hidden Patterns” and Proteome Quest to develop MammoCheck^®, a blood test for detection of breast cancer. MammoCheck is intended for use initially as a diagnostic tool following a suspicious mammogram.

At the American Society of Clinical Oncologists’ annual meeting (May 2005), our poster, “A Serum Pattern Predictive of Breast Cancer,” presented initial results. Using sera from 371 women with normal or benign breast conditions and sera from 234 women with invasive cancer, the scientific team generated a model that demonstrated 80.5 percent sensitivity and 94.4 percent specificity on a blinded set of 54 normal benign and 41 invasive cancer sera.

Correlogic's research with Walter Reed is ongoing.

About Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is the most common non-skin cancer among women, and the second leading cause of all cancer death in women. In 2008 it is expected that over 182,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer — 26 percent of all cancers in women — will be diagnosed in the United States. Breast cancer will take the lives of over 40,000 women in the United States — 15 percent of all non-skin cancer deaths. North American women have the highest rate of breast cancer in the world.

The American Cancer Society (ACS) and other medical societies recommend screening mammograms for women based on age and risk factors. While mammograms are generally considered a valuable tool for detection of breast cancer, there is significant need for improved technology. According to a 2005 New England Journal of Medicine study, mammograms have an overall sensitivity of only 41 percent. In addition mammograms lead to significant additional testing in women who do not have breast cancer. While .2 to .4 percent of mammograms lead to a cancer diagnosis, 10 percent of women who have a mammogram will require follow up tests. Eight to 10 percent of women recommended for follow up will undergo biopsies, 80 percent of which will not be cancer.