Aspira Women’s Health Study Shows Combining miRNA and Protein Biomarkers Improves Diagnostic Accuracy of Ovarian Cancer Test
Aspira Women’s Health Inc. who markets the OvaSuite line of products including the OVA1 test has announced new research on an miRNA-based ovarian cancer test. The study’s findings were presented in a poster at the AACR Special Conference in Cancer Research: Ovarian Cancer, held on October 5, 2023, in Boston, MA. This new miRNA based test is set to be incorporated into Aspira’s OvaSuite portfolio potentially improving the accuracy of the test.
The poster, titled “Improving the diagnostic accuracy of an ovarian cancer triage test using a joint miRNA-protein model,” highlighted the potential of miRNA (microRNA) to enhance the accuracy of non-invasive diagnostic tests for ovarian cancer. Dr. Kevin Elias, Senior author of the study, Director of the Gynecologic Oncology Laboratory at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Assistant Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Biology at Harvard Medical School, played a pivotal role in investigating miRNA’s significance in ovarian cancer diagnostics.
In the research, miRNA was combined with serum protein data and clinical information from Aspira’s ovarian cancer registry studies. The study’s results revealed that the incorporation of miRNA significantly improved the detection of early-stage ovarian cancers. Furthermore, combining miRNA with proteins and clinical metadata further enhanced diagnostic accuracy. These findings suggest that a multi-pronged approach, encompassing miRNA, proteins, and patient information, could substantially improve the triage of patients with suspected ovarian cancers.
Nicole Sandford, President and Chief Executive Officer of Aspira Women’s Health, expressed her satisfaction with the initial findings resulting from their collaboration with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. She highlighted the potential of the technology, which combines their trusted diagnostic tools with miRNA, to enhance ovarian cancer diagnostics. These findings provide hope that one day ovarian cancer can be detected at an earlier, more treatable stage, potentially saving lives.