L'innovation

The early detection of breast cancer is the cornerstone for reducing mortality rates in this cancer that affects one in nine women. Currently, breast cancer screening campaigns are delivered through mammography and although there is no doubt of their efficacy, this approach does have limitations in terms of sensitivity in women who have very dense breast tissue and in young women considered "at risk" (family history or genetic predisposition) for whom the regular use of ionising radiation is not recommended. Furthermore, according to recent work published in the Lancet (Independent UK Panel on Breast Cancer Screening, 2012), mammography screening leads to overdiagnosis in 19% of women.

The research team has demonstrated that dysregulation in protein expression level of Olfactomedin-4 (OLFM4), correlates with breast cancer, and that such biomarker is detectable in blood samples of patients. It has notably been discovered that the expression level of Olfactomedin-4 is higher in breast cancer patients thoughout progression of the disease, by comparison to healthy subjects.

This innovation provides for the first time a reliable and easy method to perform diagnostic for breast cancer, which is based on the determination of the expression level of OLFM4.