A Medical Device Daily

A $5 million grant from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation is expected to accelerate Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center 's (both Seattle) progress toward early detection of breast and prostate cancer through a “proof-of-principle” project that is expected to set new standards for the field.

Early cancer-detection research strives to identify specific biomarkers – tumor-derived or responsive proteins in the blood – that can indicate the presence of cancer long before symptoms begin, when the opportunity for cure is highest.

The Allen Foundation's grant will fund science at the Hutchinson Center that seeks to demonstrate that biomarkers can be correlated with the presence of cancer in a mouse, yielding a blueprint for future discoveries relevant to early cancer detection in humans.

“The Allen Foundation's landmark gift will enable us to reach toward our vision of detecting cancer at its earliest stages using a simple and highly accurate blood test,” said Lee Hartwell, PhD, president and director of the center. “Identifying biomarkers in a mouse model, which is genetically predictable in the laboratory, leverages our ability to find cancer early in humans.”

The resulting knowledge ultimately could shift the emphasis of cancer care away from treatment of advanced disease and toward early detection of cancer in persons known to be susceptible or just starting to develop the disease, Hartwell said.

DMS Imaging (Fargo, North Dakota), a member of the DMS Health Group, reported that it has signed a three-year agreement with Amerinet (St. Louis, Missouri), which serves more than 37,000 healthcare organizations nationwide. DMS Imaging will provide Amerinet members with mobile diagnostic imaging shared services and interim rentals of mobile imaging products.

The agreement, effective Aug. 1, includes MRI, computed tomography (CT), positron emission tomography (PET), PET/CT, nuclear medicine, cardiac cath lab and ultrasound services.