HiloProbe
HiloProbe, founded in 2016, is a Umeå (Sweden) based biotechnology company focused on personalizing colorectal cancer diagnostics. The founders consist of a group of scientists, who have collaborated for more than 15 years in an academic setting, and produced high quality original research focusing on the development of clinically useful biomarkers for colorectal cancer.
HiloProbe and Biocartis announced their partnership agreement on 9 May 2023, which will initially focus on the commercialization of ColoNode®, a CE-marked IVD gene expression signature test that can help detect nodal metastasis in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. ColoNode® will be distributed as a manual kit by Biocartis to expert laboratories in selected European countries. Following commercial uptake of the manual kit, HiloProbe and Biocartis will consider developing a fully automated version of the test on Biocartis’ decentralized Idylla™ Platform.
Colorectal Cancer
CRC is the third most common cancer type in the world with an estimated 1.9 million new cases and 0.9 million deaths per year worldwide1 . 70-90% of CRC patients may undergo surgical resection of the tumor. International guidelines2 have introduced the tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) staging system, that assesses primary tumor (T), lymph node metastasis (N), and distant metastasis (M) to predict disease recurrence and survival. As a key component in this staging system, lymph nodes that are contained in the resected section of the colon, are inspected for presence of disseminated tumor cells. Lymph node status is also a key factor in deciding on postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy. The routine method of determining lymph node status (pN) is microscopic examination of H&E3 stained lymph node tissue sections, that has limitations: it is insensitive and subjective, requires specially trained pathologists, examines < 1% of the lymph node volume and cannot differentiate between aggressive and relatively harmless tumor cells
- 1Globocan 2020 and Xi and Xu. Global colorectal cancer burden in 2020 and projections to 2040. Translational Oncology 14 (2021): 101174
- 2American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) and International Union Against Cancer (UICC)
- 3H&E (hematoxylin-eosin) stain is the most widely used tissue staining used in histopathology
ColoNode®
The ColoNode® kit contains ready for use reagents for analysis of 20 lymph node RNA samples including 2 master mixes, 6 standard samples, 1 manganese acetate and 1 negative control. Included in the product is also the ColoNode® Software, which calculates the results from the kit analysis in terms of an estimated risk of tumor recurrence.
WHAT OUR PARTNER SAYS ABOUT THE COLLABORATION
“We are very happy to start a collaboration and a long-term relationship with Biocartis, which strengthens our focus on colorectal cancer thanks to Biocartis’ established sales and distribution network across many countries. Further development of a fully automated version of ColoNode ® on the Idylla™ platform also holds great potential for ColoNode ® to contribute faster and more easily to the safer selection of patients who could benefit from postoperative adjuvant treatment.”
Lina Olsson, Chief Executive Officer of HiloProbe
