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De Soto, KS (PRWEB) May 11, 2011

Oncimmune announces that the autoantibody platform used in their proprietary EarlyCDT-Lung test is being made available for independent research at the Centre for Excellence for Autoimmunity in Cancer (CEAC) at the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom. the research will further assess the performance of EarlyCDT-Lung, a test designed to identify the existence of cancer antigens in patients displaying the earliest symptoms of lung cancer.

Developed by researchers from Oncimmune, the EarlyCDT-Lung test is the first of its kind. This test is designed to aid in the risk assessment and early detection of lung cancer. Currently, in most cases, a diagnosis is made only after the disease has progressed and the patient begins displaying symptoms of lung cancer. the EarlyCDT-Lung test is a blood test which analyzes a multi–antigen panel to detect autoantibodies that have been associated with lung cancer antigens. Autoantibodies are produced in the very early stages of lung cancer, potentially enabling doctors to detect the disease before it has time to progress.

“Early diagnosis of lung cancer before it has spread and therefore while curable remains the goal for screening tests. the EarlyCDT-Lung test is a new technology with the potential to shift our ability to diagnose lung cancer earlier than is currently achieved,” said Dr. James Jett of National Jewish Health. “Preliminary data, auditing the use of the test in clinical practice, are promising and consistent with the case-controlled studies. I am hopeful that the studies planned by CEAC will validate the test’s clinical performance in a screening context and its cost effectiveness.”

The world’s first Centre for Excellence for Autoimmunity in Cancer (CEAC) was recently established at the Nottingham University. the CEAC houses a multi-disciplinary team working to discover new insights into the biological makeup of cancer and encourage further studies in order to develop a fundamental understanding of the disease. CEAC has been granted access to Oncimmune’s EarlyCDT-Lung technology to allow academic research into the immune system’s response to cancer.

“Finding lung cancer at the earliest stage possible, even before lung cancer symptoms are evident, does increase survival rates and the likelihood of a better outcome for the patient.” commented Dan Calvo, President and CEO of Oncimmune. “We hope that further investigation of the immune response to cancer through use of our autoantibody platform will lead to a greater understanding of this highly complex area of science so that early detection tests for all cancers can be achieved.”

Oncimmune launched EarlyCDT-Lung in the United States in 2009. Results of the commercial launch will be presented at the World Congress for Lung Cancer in Amsterdam in July. EarlyCDT-Lung is scheduled to launch commercially in the United Kingdom later this year. in addition, Oncimmune plans to launch EarlyCDT-Lung test for other solid tumor cancer in the coming years. Look for more exciting developments from Oncimmune as they take strides to advance early cancer detection through autoantibody assay technology.

Oncimmune (USA) LLC, founded in 2006, is an industry leader in early cancer detection. Oncimmune (USA )LLC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oncimmune LTD based in Nottingham, England. the company is committed to advancing early cancer detection through proprietary autoantibody assay technologies based upon biological technology initially identified by John Robertson, M.D., professor of surgery at Nottingham University, England, and Chief Scientific Officer of Oncimmune LTD. Ongoing research and development is conducted by Oncimmune under the direction of Dr. Robertson. the company’s mission is to develop early cancer detection tests to identify more than 90 percent of solid-tumor cancers, which make up 70 percent of all cancers including lung, breast, colorectal, prostate, stomach, pancreatic and ovarian. Oncimmune’s metro Kansas City laboratory is CLIA-certified under the Clinical Laboratory Improvements Amendment of 1988. Oncimmune LTD owns a portfolio of patents including No. 7,402,403 and No. 7,205,117.

Read the full story at prweb.com/releases/2011/5/prweb8399063.htm

Policies that presume people will donate their organs upon their death unless they specify otherwise – also known as presumed consent – may have the unwanted side effect of lowering the number of kidneys from living donors, a new study suggests.

the study examined the rates of kidney transplantation between 1997 and 2007 in 44 countries – 22 with presumed consent and 22 with explicit consent, the latter of which individuals must register or make clear they want to donate their organs upon their death.

Perhaps as expected, nations with presumed consent, such as Austria and Norway, had higher rates of kidney transplantation using organs from the recently deceased. However, countries that require explicit consent, such as the United States and United Kingdom, had higher rates of kidney transplantation from living donors.

This suggests switching policies from explicit consent to presumed consent might decrease the number of living kidney donors, the researchers said. Such a decline is important to consider because patients who receive transplants from living donors generally have better survival rates and shorter waiting times than those who receive transplants from donors who are deceased.

The findings should inform the ongoing debates in nations considering changing their consent policies, the researchers said. in these countries, it has been argued that presumed consent would increase the organ supply, and therefore ease the growing demand for transplant organs. in the United States, for example, there are currently close to 110,000 people waiting for an organ donation, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing, or UNOS, the nonprofit organization that tracks all transplants in the U.S. the majority of the people on the list are waiting for kidneys.

In the new study, nations with presumed consent policies had an average of 22.6 kidney transplants from deceased donors per million people in their total population, while countries with explicit consent had an average of 13.9 transplants per million people. on the other hand, countries with presumed consent had 2.4 kidney transplants per million people from living donors, while countries with explicit consent had 5.9 transplants per million.

In countries that utilize a presumed consent policy, the lower number of transplants from living donors may be due to a general public perception that the need for organs has been met by the legislation, the researchers said. It's also possible that programs for transplants from living donors are not as developed in these countries.

While some experts agree with the study researchers that presumed consent policies may decrease kidney donations from living donors, they say it is important to consider the affect such policies may on the donation of other organs.

"There is no living donation for hearts, intestines, lungs, and really for practical purposes, livers," said Arthur Caplan, director of the center for bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania, who was not involved in the study. more of these organs would be available under presumed-consent policies, Caplan said, and there would be no downside for living donations, because living donations, for the most part, refer to kidney transplants.

However, countries that switch to presumed-consent policies should make strong efforts to maintain programs for living kidney donors, Caplan said."You do not want to fail to go to presumed consent because you're worried about living donation, you just have to do everything you can to preserve living donation," he said.

And when such a policy switch occurs, it is important to inform and educate the public and health care professionals about what the change means, he said.

The study was published in the November issue of the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.

• Chronic Kidney Disease: Symptoms and Treatment
• New Markers for Chronic Kidney Disease Found
• Donating a Kidney Doesn't Shorten Donor's Life

Follow MyHealthNewsDaily Staff Writer Rachael Rettner on Twitter @Rachael_MHND.

• Original Story: 'Presumed Consent' Policies See fewer Living Kidney Donors

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