Breast cancer is the most common cancer in Europe and the leading cause of cancer death among women[1.] Each year more than 7,500 people are diagnosed with breast cancer in Sweden, which is around 20 people a day[2]. Due to early detection and better treatment, prognosis for 5-year survival has increased from 74.3% in 1980 to 91.8% in 2015. Innovations such as the introduction of new breast cancer drugs in the 60s, mammography in the 70s, understanding the genes and targeting hormone receptors in the 80s, the discovery of BRCA1/2 genes variants in the 90s, and all through to the latest breakthrough in AI can and have save lives[3]. Learn more about Cancerfonden's Rosa Bandet campaign here (https://www.cancerfonden.se/rosabandet/om-kampanjen).

A new partnership pushing forward CellRACE

This month has been exciting for the CellRACE project as we began a new collaboration with AI software company IFLAI (Innovations for Life Sciences through Artificial Intelligence), a spinoff company with researchers from the University of Gothenburg and Chalmers University of Technology. This partnership brings Cline access to the most advanced AI knowledge and techniques and allowing its utilization in a life-saving application.

The project builds on earlier completed work and aims to develop custom AI-based software for predicting metastasis. In summary, the project will focus on implementing deep learning algorithms (a type of machine learning/artificial intelligence) to track and analyze tumor cell behavior and features automatically and objectively. This first project deliverable which will be completed in Q4 2022 will be used when observing cells on Cline nanogradients, carrying out testing, and further development of CellRACE.

The overarching goal is to then build the system to "learn" a wide range of cancer phenotypes and be a one-step automated solution to determine cancer metastatic potential when a patient sample is applied on the CellRACE nanogradient chip. The team is very excited having this work underway and will keep you up to date on the project in future updates!

AI in breast cancer making waves

More broadly across cancer research and industry, there has been much progress and interest in applying AI-based solutions to solve the challenges within breast cancer. Earlier this week, we highlighted a segment on Swedish morning news TV4 (https://www.tv4play.se/program/nyhetsmorgon/br%C3%B6stcancer-kan-uppt%C3%A4ckas-tidigare-med-3d-teknik/13797662?offset=15) on Monday morning about Swedish research into using improved mammogram techniques to find more tumors and the possibilities of AI in cancer imaging and diagnosis.

Similarly, later this week German company Vara raised €4.5M (https://www.forbes.com/sites/marijabutkovic/2022/10/25/vara-raises-44-million-in-funding-to-bring-its-groundbreaking-ai-breast-cancer-screening-platform-to-millions-more-women/?sh=236a61893a0e) to expand access to AI mammogram screening platforms internationally to a targeted 1 billion women, especially in underfunded areas. The AI platform streamlines workflow, reducing workflow by 73% and its decision support works together with a radiographer to find 42% of missed cancers.

At the end of last month, Oxford startup Optellumannounced $14M in Series A funding (https://www.fiercebiotech.com/medtech/intuitive-joins-14m-funding-lung-cancer-ai-developer-optellum) for their lung cancer AI system. Partnered with GE Healthcare and Johnson and Johnson, their FDA-cleared software can analyze CT images, determine a risk score, and thereby guide doctors on an appropriate treatment plan. The funding will increase commercial reach and integrate liquid biopsy technology and molecular data into their system and thus further individualize patient treatment.

We are also seeing more AI products on the market, for example, French-American startup Owkin's AI diagnostic solutions for breast cancer achieved CE-IVD approval in the EU (https://owkin.com/publications-and-news/press-releases/two-first-in-class-ai-diagnostic-solutions-for-breast-cancer-and-colorectal-cancer-developed-by-owkin-are-approved-for-use-in-europe/). The system reads pathology slides and determines the risk of relapse of cancer, which helps oncologists focus their treatment. The company is backed by Sanofi and has raised over $300M since its founding in 2016.

The team at Cline looks forward to continuing to share how we are pushing cancer diagnostics forward and share more of our journey in future newsletters!

Warmest regards,

The Cline Team

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[1] World Health Organization. Breast Cancer Awareness Month. (2022) https://www.who.int/europe/news-room/events/item/2022/10/01/default-calendar/breast-cancer-awareness-month

[2] Cancerfonden. Bröstcancer. (2022) https://www.cancerfonden.se/om-cancer/cancersjukdomar/brostcancer

[3] Lotta Fredholm. Bröstcancer Forskningsframstegen som har lett till bättre prognos. (2022) https://www.cancerfonden.se/forskning/tidslinje-brostcancer#article