Oxford BioDynamics, Plc announces that its EpiSwitch® Prostate Screening (PSE) test will be utilized in correlative studies of a clinical trial,NCT05588128, organized and sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes of Health, (Bethesda, MD, USA), to regularly monitor prostate cancer in patients with biochemically recurrent disease. Prostate cancer is the most common malignancy and the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in American men. Each year in the US up to 50,000 men whose early-stage cancer was treated, e.g. via definitive radiation or surgery, unfortunately experience biochemical recurrence (BCR).

At this biochemically recurrent stage however, standard imaging techniques, such as computed tomography (CT) and Tc99 bone scan, are often unable to detect the disease. One goal of the NCI clinical trial is to identify techniques, tools, and biomarkers which can predict outcomes in patients with BCR. As part of this clinical trial, NCI will follow ~250 patients with biochemically recurrent prostate cancer for up to five years monitoring changes on prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) PET imaging, collecting blood samples every three months, as well as conducting annual or biannual bone or CT scans of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis.

The EpiSwitch® PSE test is one such tool being evaluated and is being utilized in correlative studies under this clinical trial to investigate early markers of prostate cancer progression. OBD and NCI are collaborating on the evaluation of samples and data collected from NCI's clinical trial using the EpiSwitch® PSE test under a material transfer agreement (MTA).