Neuroendocrine Cancer treatment response test, PPQ, delivers 96% accuracy
Neuroendocrine Cancer treatment response test, PPQ, delivers 96% accuracy
BRANFORD, Conn. — Sept. XX — The PRRT Predictor Quotient, or PPQ, is the only diagnostic available today to predict patient response to peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) for neuroendocrine tumors. PRRT is an emerging treatment that delivers targeted doses of radiation to neuroendocrine tumors to slow growth and relieve symptoms.
Wren’s PPQ, a companion test to Wren Laboratories’ NETest®, classifies patients as either a “Responder” who will experience disease stabilization and have a longer time to disease progression (usually greater than 18 months after the end of PRRT treatment), or as a “Non-responder,” who will have a shorter time until the disease progresses (usually less than 12 months after the start of PRRT). Patients predicted as “Non-responders” may require additional or alternative therapies to stabilize their disease.
According to recent peer-reviewed research led by Dr. Lisa Bodei at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and published in the April 2023 “Journal of Nuclear Medicine,” the PPQ delivers 96% accuracy in determining patient response to PRRT. Moreover, the research also validated the NETest as providing a high accuracy (90%) in monitoring PRRT treatment response.
“We developed our PRRT predictive quotient, the PPQ, to help identify which NET patients would respond favorably to this particular neuroendocrine cancer treatment. And, equally important, which may not,” said Wren General Manager Dan Buck. “The research done by Dr. Bodei and her colleagues at Memorial Sloan Kettering indicating a 96% level of accuracy in PRRT response prediction should provide patients and physicians alike with a high level of confidence in developing a NET treatment plan.”
The Wren Laboratories NETest assay is generally used after diagnosis of a NET, which represents about 2% of all cancer patients. The PPQ, which utilizes a subset of the 51 markers in the NETest, can be subsequently employed when planning therapy for patients diagnosed with those types of neuroendocrine tumors that respond to PRRT: those having a tendency to express specific receptors that can be targeted with radiolabeled peptides and are radiosensitive.
“The PPQ is an algorithm that integrates radiation-responsive genes with tumor grade. This is more accurate than clinical factors or other biomarkers and is now independently validated,” said Mark Kidd, Ph.D., laboratory and science director at Wren.
As PRRT is only available at specialized treatment centers, requiring multiple rounds of costly treatment, using the PPQ can save patients and oncologists time by identifying those patients who would most likely benefit from PRRT. Additionally, the test can save insurance companies and other payers thousands of dollars in treatment costs by determining the effectiveness before beginning this type of therapy.
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Wren Laboratories is a molecular diagnostic laboratory in Branford, CT that uses mRNA, artificial intelligence, and a suite of proprietary algorithms to detect cancers and provide diagnostic information to oncologists and patients. Wren is CLIA-certified and CAP-accredited clinical laboratory whose current laboratory developed tests include the NETest and PPQ. Learn more: wrenlaboratories.com