Carmenta copyCarmenta Bioscience Inc, Palo Alto, Calif, in collaboration with researchers at Stanford University, Palo Alto, have announced presentation of results from a retrospective clinical study that revealed a new confirmatory diagnostic test highly accurate in distinguishing mothers with preeclampsia from a control group in the study.

The underlying technology for the test was discovered by Carmenta’s cofounders, Atul Butte, MD, PhD, and Bruce Ling, PhD, of Stanford University.

Butte and Ling analyzed genomic and proteomic data from more than 100 preeclamptic mothers to develop a novel, proprietary panel of serum proteins capable of diagnosis. Using advanced data mining techniques, they identified a multiplexed panel of biomarkers representing the broad diversity of biological processes associated with the condition.

“Given the complicated pathophysiology of preeclampsia, it is necessary to use a systems biology approach to understand and characterize the condition. The complex etiology can manifest itself differently in mothers, so a personalized medicine approach is optimal when diagnosing preeclampsia,” says Butte, chief, Division of Systems Medicine, Department of Pediatrics at Stanford University School of Medicine.

The multisite study examined the test in the serum of 64 pregnant mothers of various ages, gestational ages, and ethnicities, including 32 diagnosed with preeclampsia. The test performed at a high degree of sensitivity and specificity. The results of the study have been submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

Matthew Cooper, PhD, DABT, MBA, president and CEO, Carmenta, says the company is preparing for an additional, prospective clinical validity trial in 2013. Once the performance of the test is qualified in a larger population, the company will be poised to make the test available to the maternal fetal medicine and OB-GYN community, he notes. Carmenta has obtained an option to acquire a worldwide, exclusive license from Stanford on the discovery and is currently developing the test for commercialization.

[Source: Carmenta Bioscience]