Strand Life Sciences launches special test for early cancer detection

Test involves simple blood test with little discomfort, compared to biopsy, radioactive scans

Strand Life Sciences, a bioinformatics company, introduced liquid biopsy test portfolio called Strand LB that helps in highly sensitive detection of tumour traces from a simple blood draw.

While tumours are usually assessed through invasive biopsies or through radioactive scans, this test will ensure early and precise indication of tumour presence, cancer recurrence, and response to therapy, said the company in a statement.

Early detection of cancer will be essential as Indian Council of Medical Research suggests India is projected to have 1.73 million new cases of cancer reported by 2020 and more than 880,000 patients are expected to die from this disease.

Strand Life Sciences said that its new test, Strand LB, which has been developed in collaboration with Mazumdar Shaw Center for Translational Research (MSCTR), would allow earlier assessment with minimal discomfort to patients.

All Strand LB-based tests were validated by clinicians at Mazumdar Shaw Medical Center (MSMC) and those tests would be available for pati,ents at MSMC. A team of experts from Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai including Dr Kumar Prabhash, Dr Amit Dutt, and Dr Anuradha Chougule provided intellectual input and guidance in validation of the liquid biopsy.

"Liquid biopsy is a paradigm shift that involves a minimally-invasive procedure, no radioactive scans, and can detect tumour DNA traces from a simple blood draw. Our study on patients spanning a wide variety of cancer types -- including lung, colorectal, breast, and bladder cancer -- shows that STRAND LB can detect tumour DNA traces in as many as 35 per cent patients with early-stage cancer, going up to 70-90 per cent in patients with locally advanced or metastatic cancer," said Dr Vijay Chandru, chairman and managing director, Strand Life Sciences.

Innovations such as liquid biopsy are important breakthroughs in cancer detection and management and can help significantly in bringing down non-communicable disease burden in India, said Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairperson and managing director, Biocon.