The OncoSeek technology will head early cancer detection in low-income and middle-income countries.
China-based, blood cancer early detection and monitoring technology company, SeekIn has released new research on its multi-cancer early detection (MCED) test, OncoSeek.
The research article, titled “A panel of seven protein tumour markers for effective and affordable multicancer early detection by artificial intelligence”, was published in eClinicalMedicine, a clinical journal published by The Lancet.
The study included almost 10,000 participants, with 1,959 cancer patients traversing 20 cancer types, and 7423 healthy individuals, across China and the US.
A conventional clinical electrochemiluminescence immunoassay analyser was used to identify seven specific protein tumour markers (PTMs) in the blood of each participant.
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Based on the quantitative results of the seven PTMs and clinical information, such as gender and age, the OncoSeek algorithm was established, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to distinguish cancer patients from non-cancer patients and calculates the probability of cancer (POC) index. The technology was also able to predict the possible affected tissue of origin (TOO) where cancer signals were detected in the blood.
Many low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) are unable to access established cancer screening technologies due to cost, complexity, and reliance on extensive medical infrastructure. OncoSeek may be able to address these issues.
The test achieved a sensitivity of 51.7% and a specificity of 92.9%, resulting in 84.3% accuracy. The sensitivities ranged from 37.1% to 77.6% for the detection of the nine common cancer types (breast, colorectum, liver, lung, lymphoma, oesophagus, ovary, pancreas, and stomach), which account for around 59.2% of global cancer deaths each year. The overall accuracy of TOO prediction was 66.8%.
AI was expected to become a key driver of medical device innovation in 2023. A prediction, which came from Alexandra Murdoch, medical devices analyst at GlobalData, noted that AI is growing in several fields globally, with the market expected to reach $93bn in 2023, up 12% from 2022.
In the report, Murdoch commented: “There are so many good uses for AI in the medical device industry. Now is the time to invest in these technologies and advance medical devices.”
