SeekIn Inc., a leading company pioneering in blood-based cancer early detection, proudly announces the participation of Dr. Mao, CEO and Co-founder, in the highly anticipated BIOHK2023 conference. The CEO took the stage to deliver an engaging presentation, shedding light on the technological roadmap, exceptional performance, and extensive applications of their groundbreaking multi-cancer early detection product, called OncoSeek.
Designed to address the global challenges of cancer detection due to cost, complexity, and dependency on high-end infrastructure, OncoSeek is revolutionizing the field with its cutting-edge technology, affordability, and accessibility. The CEO’s captivating presentation showcased the company’s commitment to transforming the landscape of cancer detection and treatment.
The presentation was focused on three crucial aspects of OncoSeek as follows:
1. Technological Advancements
OncoSeek was established using artificial intelligence (AI) to distinguish patients with cancer from those without cancer by calculating the probability of cancer (POC) index based on the quantification results of seven selected protein tumor markers (PTMs) and clinical information including sex and age of the individuals. OncoSeek was also designed to predict the possible affected tissue of origin (TOO) for those who have been detected with cancer signals in blood. The seven PTMs mentioned above are common PTMs, namely, AFP, CE, CA125, CA153, CA199, CA724, CYFRA21-1, by a common clinical electrochemiluminescence immunoassay analyzer. The nine common cancer types OncoSeek covers includes breast, colorectum, liver, lung, lymphoma, oesophagus, ovary, pancreas, and stomach, which account for ∼59.2% of global cancer deaths annually.
2. Exemplary Performance and Validation
A large retrospective cohort study of nearly 10,000 participants from the US and China was conducted. The methodology and clinical effectiveness of OncoSeek were peer reviewed and published on EClinicalMedicine (part of The Lancet) with DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2023.102041 in July, 2023. The general information about the cohort is shown as below.
OncoSeek has demonstrated significantly superior performance in both the training cohort and the two independent validation cohorts. With the help of AI, specific patterns of tumor markers and clinical factors and their interdependencies can be learned and identified to distinguish cancer from non-cancer individuals, thus greatly increasing its specificity, and achieving a specificity of 93%.
3. Exemplary Performance and Validation
As is pointed by WHO, early detection of cancer greatly increases the chances for successful treatment. Screening and early diagnosis are the two components of early detection of cancer. Screening consists of testing healthy individuals to identify those having cancers before any symptom appear while early diagnosis focuses on detecting symptomatic patients as early as possible.
<3.1> Screening
Screening applies tests to a population who do not have signs or symptoms of a cancer and who are at average risk for it. OncoSeek conducts risk screening for nine major high-incidence cancers among individuals and identifies high-risk individuals. By closely monitoring them, cancer is able to be detected in a curable stage.
<3.2> Early diagnosis
Early diagnosis is a critical public health strategy in all settings due to the improved outcomes by treatment at as the earliest stage as possible. In the early stages, surgery and radiotherapy are regularly successful. OncoSeek is proven to detect cancer from people with symptoms and trace the TOO efficiently, helping patients reduce the time to diagnose and enable them take appropriate treatment as early as possible.
<3.3> Reducing false-positive rates
With the support of AI algorithms, OncoSeek has improved sensitivity and doubled specificity for the general population undergoing routine physical examinations, effectively addressing the issue of high false-positive rates associated with traditional tumor markers. This ensures accurate and reliable testing results for individuals undergoing physical examinations.
The CEO’s presentation received high praise from industry experts, renowned scientists, and healthcare professionals. The audience commended SeekIn's unwavering commitment to improving cancer outcomes and recognized OncoSeek’s potential to revolutionize early cancer detection on a global scale.
With the successful presentation at BIOHK2023, SeekIn continues to spearhead innovation in the field of early cancer detection. The company remains devoted to advancing technology, improving accessibility, and ensuring affordability, all with the goal of making a substantial impact on global cancer management.