The Department of Molecular Oncology of Cancer Institute has developed a modified Elisa technique to enable population-based cervical cancer screening in a cost-effective manner. It has filed for a patent and is in the process of transferring the technology to a Government of India subsidiary company.
T. Rajkumar, head of Molecular Oncology, said conventionally, the pap smear test is being used for screening women for cervical cancer. “We need highly trained pathologists or cytologists for diagnosis and there are not many in the country. Hence, the Government of India decided that pap smear cannot apply for a population-based screening,” he said at a function to hand over the Ion Torrent PGM Unit to the institute on Wednesday. As of now, village health nurses were trained to detect abnormal cervix by visual inspection with acetic acid. He said this was low-cost but had problems of low sensitivity.
“We have developed Double Antibody Sandwich Elisa for detection of p16 – a protein that forms after Human Papillomavirus infection is established. It can be done at the point of care such as primary health centres,” he explained. This can help in early diagnosis of cervical cancer, even in the pre-cancerous stage.
V. Shanta, chairperson of Cancer Institute, said Thermo Fisher Life Science Solutions, represented on the occasion by its managing director, Dev Ohri, was donating the Ion Torrent PGM Unit costing Rs. 75 lakh as part of its corporate social responsibility.