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Improved Cancer Screening becomes crucial as
debate swirls over guidelines for Breast and
Cervical Tests
Newswise — Two sets of recommendations
issued earlier this month have revised
longstanding guidelines concerning the age
at which women should first be tested for
breast and cervical cancer and how
frequently.
The US Preventative Services Task Force now
recommends that routine screening
mammography should begin at age 50 rather
than 40, and that women ages 50 to 74 be
tested every two years rather than one.
Meanwhile, the American College of
Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends
that Pap tests be administered no earlier
than age 21, and then every two years to
women between 21 and 29.
“Both of these recommendations have stirred
intense debate because the benefits of
mammograms and Pap tests are not
black-and-white,” says Amnon Gonenne, CEO of
MabCure Inc., a biotechnology company that
is developing novel diagnostics based on
highly specific monoclonal antibodies (MAbs)
for the early detection of cancer.
“A decade ago or so, the medical community
made specific recommendations for the use of
these tests for the diagnosis of breast and
cervical cancer. Now they have revised both
guidelines based on accumulating evidence
that the risks of these tests are greater
than the benefits at an earlier age.”
Some physicians have argued that there is
potential for harm in overuse of Pap tests.
The reason is that young women are
especially prone to develop abnormalities in
the cervix that appear to be precancerous,
but that will go away if left alone.
But when Pap tests find the growths, doctors
often remove them, with procedures that can
injure the cervix and complicate future
pregnancy. Likewise, mammograms offer risks
of their own, such as an increase in
exposure to cancer-causing radiation.
“If you don’t have a highly specific test
offering a definitive diagnosis of ‘cancer’
vs. ‘no cancer’, you have to balance the
upside of these tests (the chance of
detecting cancer early ) and the downside of
serious adverse reactions,” says Gonenne.
“This is where MabCure is heading—toward
tests that can offer a definitive diagnosis
of a given cancer.”
MabCure’s MAbs have been engineered with
high specificity in order to detect cancer
at an early stage, where the cure rates are
greater than 90 percent. These MAbs are able
to detect unique cancer markers, known as
tumor-specific antigens, that appear to be
present only on the surface of cancer cells
but not in healthy cells.
Presently, the company is developing MAbs
that can test for the presence of ovarian
and prostate, cancers in blood and urine. In
addition Mabcure has developed Mabs against
colon cancer and melanoma and plans to
generate MAbs for breast cancer in the
coming year.
Founded in 2008, MabCure is dedicated to the
development of novel diagnostics for the
early detection of cancer and to provide
physicians with treatments targeting cancer
cells while sparing normal tissue. For more
information, log on to
www.mabcure.com
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