MONTCLAIR, NJ / ACCESSWIRE / May 16, 2014 / MetaStat, Inc. (OTCQB: MTST), a life science company focused on understanding and treating systemic metastasis, announced today that our company was featured in an article titled, “Cancer caught in the act” written by Nature, a scientific journal highlighting the increased use of Intravital imaging used in research to monitor tumor cells as well as the growth, spread (metastasis) and treatment of cancer in living animal cells.
Advances in Intravital imaging has given researchers the ability to use molecular markers to visualize eight different kinds of cells and structures, including immune-system cells and endothelial cells that line blood vessels. The Intravital imaging revealed unusual cellular behavior in macrophages, an immune cell that usually removes dead cells, engulfs pathogens, stimulates immune response to fight cancer but can also boost the speed and growth of a tumor. “Intravital imaging studies showed that macrophages along with tumor cells and endothelial cells, form a structure that pumps tumor cells into the bloodstream – a key step in metastasis.” The process or ‘pump’ found by John Condeelis, Ph.D., along with a team of researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, has shown ‘pumps’ to be present in human breast cancer. A 60-person breast cancer study revealed that individuals with tumors with higher density of ‘pumps’ were more likely to develop metastasis in other organs.
MetaStat has licensed this “pump” or MetaSite BreastTM technology and is using it both independently and in combination with our other diagnostic products, to develop tests that predict metastatic risk in women with breast cancer. Our MetaSite BreastTM test is the first diagnostic that directly detects and quantifies the actual mechanisms by which mestastatic cells disseminate through the blood stream to cause the secondary (metastatic) tumors that are responsible for 90% of fatalities in epithelial-based sold tumor cancers. Over 600 women have already been studied employing this technology and additional clinical trials are expected to begin by the end of this calendar year with anticipated commercialization in 2015.
Dr. Heiner Dreismann, head of diagnostics at MetaStat and former president and chief executive officer of Roche Molecular Systems with more than 24 years of experience in the health care industry commented, “We believe that our novel diagnostic technologies based on our unique understanding of systemic metastasis will offer an early and reliable prediction and treatment of metastasis in patients with breast cancer and other solid tumors. Our MetaSite BreastTM test has the potential to allow women and their doctors to tailor and personalize a treatment approach that is most appropriate to their needs regarding chemotherapy.”
About MetaStat, Inc.
MetaStat is a life sciences company that develops and commercialized diagnostic products and novel therapeutics for the early and reliable prediction and treatment of systemic metastasis, the process by which cancer spreads from a primary tumor through the bloodstream to other areas of the body. MetaStat is focused on breast, prostate, lung and colorectal cancers, where systemic metastasis is responsible for approximately 90% of all deaths. The Company’s function-based diagnostic platform technology is based on the identification and understanding of the pivotal role of the mena protein and its isoforms, a common pathway for the development of systemic metastatic disease in all epithelial-based solid tumors. Both the MetaSite BreastTM and MenaCalcTM product lines are designed to accurately stratify patients based on their individual risk of metastasis and to allow clinicians to better “customize” cancer treatment decisions by positively identifying patients with a high-risk of metastasis who need aggressive therapy and by sparing patients with a low-risk of metastasis from the harmful side effects and expense of chemotherapy. Additionally, the MenaBloc™ therapeutic program aims to build upon mena biology and alternative splicing events as a driver of disease progression to exploit novel targets that provide precision medicines in oncology.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors and other risks, including those set forth in the Company’s Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should consider these factors in evaluating the forward-looking statements included herein, and not place undue reliance on such statements. The forward-looking statements in this release are made as of the date hereof and the company undertakes no obligation to update such statements.
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