Oxford Biomedical Research Awarded NIH Contract to Develop Blood tests for Anticancer Efficacy

This contract is for development of a test to measure the level in blood of a protein, called NAG-1, which may be a biomarker for the efficacy of anti-cancer agents.

A team of scientists, led by Dr. Thomas Eling at the NIH, has discovered that treatment of animals with low doses of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as aspirin and ibuprofen, which significantly reduce the incidence of certain cancers in humans, increases the production of NAG-1. NAG-1 levels are also increased by nutritional supplements, such as resveratrol from wine and genistein from soy products, which have been reported to help prevent cancer.

Although it is now well known that, like aspirin and cardiovascular disease, regular use of NSAIDs reduces the risk of cancer (especially colorectal cancer), and that certain nutritional supplements can also reduce cancer incidence, there is presently no way to assess the impact of these agents in humans. The availability of a NAG-1 blood test may permit clinicians to monitor the effectiveness of known anti-cancer agents. It may also be useful for screening for new anti-cancer agents.