Scientific officer Victor Tso from Metabolomic Technologies Inc. visited WIPM

On August 30th, 2012, Scientific officer Victor Tso fromMetabolomic Technologies Inc. (MTI), was invited by Prof. Tang Huiru to visit Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics (WIPM, CAS), and had delivered an excellent report entitled “Using NMR metabolomics as a diagnostic tool for the detection of colorectal cancer and colorectal polyps”.

In the report, Scientific officer Victor Tso described in detail that an estimated 186,400 new cases of cancer and 75,700 deaths from cancer would occur in Canada in 2012. Prostate, lung, breast and colorectal cancer (CRC) accounted for the top 4 newly diagnosed cancers. In 2012, an estimated 6,300 people would die of cancer in Alberta, and 16,100 new cases would be diagnosed. Though CRC was a leading cause of death, it was curable if identified through early screening processes. However, current feces-based screening methodologies were suboptimal due to a lack of sensitivity and acceptability. There was an urgent need for a more patient-friendly, accurate and inexpensive population-based screening test for CRC. MTI was committed to developing advanced diagnostic tests for a range of gastrointestinal diseases in their early stages, and had developed two proprietary diagnostic tests and had several others in development. ColoDx™, a spot urine diagnostic test, was a proprietary diagnostic test for CRC and PolypDx™ was a proprietary diagnostic test for colonic polyps (the precursor to CRC). They innovatively offered a significantly higher sensitivity in detecting adenomatous polyps and colon cancer and thus advanced the prevention of colorectal cancer. Data from MTI’s clinical trial of 1000 patients showed that ColoDx™ had a sensitivity of 90% for detection of CRC while PolypDx™ had a sensitivity of 94% for detection of colonic polyps. In comparison, the current fecal-based tests had sensitivity as low as 25% for CRC and barely-useful sensitivity of 3-19% for polyps. MTI’s diagnostics thus provided the potential for game-changing enhancements in the screening of patients for CRC and colonic polyps.

At the end of the report, Scientific officer Victor Tso carried out productive communication and discussion with research staff and students. Later, he visited the experimental platform of metabonomics, amazed by the development of our institute. And he hoped in-depth exchange.

Scientific officer Victor Tso had completed his Masters degree at the University of Alberta in Experimental Medicine. His area of study focused on metabolomics. He had presented his research at national and international scientific conferences and had an in-depth knowledge of metabolomics and their applications.

Metabolomic Technologies Inc.’s screening program