OREANDA-NEWS. Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501; “Hitachi”), Summit Pharmaceutical International Corporation and Sumitomo Corporation (collectively “Sumitomo Corporation Group”) today announced the successful development of basic technology for a new cancer screening technique that distinguishes between urine samples from patients with breast or colorectal cancer and healthy people, based on a comprehensive analysis of urine metabolites. The technique detects over 1,300 metabolites such as sugar and lipids from one urine sample, identifies about 10 candidate biomarkers specific to cancer, and by examining the difference in the amount of biomarkers, is able to distinguish urine samples from the cancer patients. The next step will be a further study of the correlation between cancer type and the candidate biomarkers in order to establish a simple and easy-to-use urine-based cancer screening test, as part of efforts to contribute to a healthier and prosperous society.
This research is partially supported by “Acceleration Transformative Research for Medical innovation (ACT-M),” from the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development, AMED.
 
In Japan, the growing cost of social security due to an aging society and low birthrate has become a major societal issue. Apart from the significant personal distress and challenges from developing cancer, a recent study by the National Institute of Public Health has reported that the economic cost of the disease including both the direct cost of diagnosis and treatment as well as the indirect cost of lost labor could become as large as 10 trillion Japanese yen per year. Thus to control healthcare costs as well as to prevent the early loss of labor in a decreasing working population, early detection and treatment of cancer is important. For the patient however currently available methods represent a time-consuming and expensive process as biomarker-based cancer screening, most commonly blood tests, require the patient to visit a medical facility, and there is still no established test that will cover the full range of cancers. Further, regions where there is a sparsity of medical facilities present even more obstacles to early detection and treatment as it may be difficult to receive necessary medical examination.
 
To address this need, Hitachi focused on a developing a simple and convenient urine test where the patient themselves could collect the sample, and has been conducting basic research to establish a new cancer screening method and process. With the cooperation of Sumitomo Corporation Group, Hitachi conducted an extensive analysis of metabolites in urine from cancer and non-cancer patients, and found that there was a clear difference between the amount of certain metabolites found in cancer and non-cancer patient urine samples. Using these metabolites as candidate biomarkers, the principle component analyses (PCA) indicated that it was possible to distinguish between urine samples from breast cancer, colorectal cancer and non-cancer patients using the volume of candidate biomarkers in the urine.
 
The results of this study open the possibility of a new style of cancer screening which increases screening opportunity as the patients themselves are able to collect urine samples and receive testing by sending the samples to a medical or clinical laboratory.  Hitachi and Sumitomo Corporation Group will continue to study the molecular structure of these candidate biomarkers, and proceed with research to distinguish other types of cancers apart from breast and colorectal cancer, for the practical application of this technology.