Singapore team produces early alert cancer test

Breakthrough kit warns of disease years before tumour appears

A RESEARCH team here has developed a new, accurate cancer test kit, which can give warning signs of the disease years before the first physical signs appear by detecting minute chemical changes in a patient's DNA.

The Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB) team, which counts top-notch Japanese cancer researcher Professor Yoshiaki Ito as its adviser, has been working with electronics giant Hitachi on the joint project since April last year.Hitachi is working with the team to take the kit to the marketplace, to grab a slice of the growing cancer diagnostics market, valued at S$110 million this year and which is projected to rise to S$185 million by 2008.

Their kit works by looking at minute changes in the chemical letters, A T C and G, that make up DNA. In some cancers, C - which refers to the chemical cytosine - undergoes a chemical change that alters its molecular structure.

Scientists are not quite sure why this happens, but believe lifestyle and environmental factors could trigger it.

Normally, DNA is fairly resilient: genes control and regulate the expression of proteins and the body is able to suppress the dangerous genetic changes which can lead to cancer. But, in some cancer cases, when cytosine undergoes the specific chemical change - methylation - the controller genes lose the ability to produce the correct proteins to prevent tumours.

Lead researcher Masafumi Inoue explained: 'Think of it as shutting down your body's innate surveillance system.'

'There is no more controlling influence. It is not only one gene, but several genes which are silenced when this change occurs.'

Gastric cancer, for one, is heavily correlated with DNA methylation, he said. And the molecular changes happen years before any physical symptoms appear.

The conventional method of screening for DNA methylation is laborious, examines only few genes at a time, and can be inaccurate. So, together with Hitachi, the IMCB team has devised a test kit which examines multiple areas, or targets, at one go.

The breakthrough test kit is not the only reason to cheer for IMCB. Its head, cancer research trailblazer Sir David Lane, has won a prestigious international award. The Sergio Lombroso prize, awarded once every two years, went to the scientist known worldwide for his role in discovering the p53 gene three decades ago.

Another leading cancer scientist here, Professor Axel Ullrich, who heads Singapore's Onco Genome Laboratory, has also been lauded. He has been given the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business European BioBusiness Leadership Award, for developing cutting-edge therapies for diabetes and breast cancer.

Natalie Soh
The Straits Times Interactive, 17 October 2005