Early-stage Melanoma
Melanoma accounts for only 4% of all dermatologic cancers but is responsible for 80% of all deaths from skin cancers. If diagnosed and removed early, when confined to the outermost skin layer and deemed to be in situ, it is virtually 100% curable. However, once the cancer advances into the deeper layers of skin, the risk of metastasis increases dramatically.

The current research is being carried out with the aim of creating a set of genetic profiles representing pigmented skin lesions that can subsequently be used as an aid in the diagnosis of early melanoma via tape-stripping, at a stage in which the disease is most treatable.

DermTech is conducting a clinical study on early diagnosis of melanoma using expression profiling and non-invasive sampling of skin cells. Currently, approximately 20 dermatology clinics across the United States are actively participating in the melanoma study.

Click here to view the clinical sites participating in the melanoma study.

DermTech's Epidermal Genetic Information Retrieval (EGIR) technology uses a custom adhesive film to sample genetic material (RNA) from the upper layers of the skin. The use of the EGIR technology is in a study documenting the differentiation of melanoma from dysplastic nevi in suspicious lesions will be awarded the Plenary Poster Prize, sponsored by the publishers of Nature, at the Society for Investigative Dermatology meeting in May, 2007.

Click here (Windows Media Player Required) to view the EGIR tape-stripping procedure. Read more...

Prostate Cancer
DermTech International is the industry co-sponsor of a three-year UC Discovery Grant in the amount of $1.46 million for research toward the diagnosis and prognosis of prostate cancer.  William Wachsman, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego, is named as Principal Investigator on the grant. 

The objective of this research is to develop a non-invasive method for diagnosing prostate cancer, the most common form of cancer in men in the United States, using EGIR.  Many types of cancer cause overt changes, such as a rash, in the skin due to factors released by tumors into the bloodstream.  The proposed research is being carried out to determine whether prostate cancer causes alterations in gene expression in the surface layers of the skin and, by comparing the genetic profiles of men with and without the disease, to create a set of representative biomarkers that can be used as a tool to screen for prostate cancer via tape-stripping.  It is further envisioned that EGIR will not only demonstrate utility in diagnosis but can act as a prognostic indicator by allowing researchers to generate a set of biomarker patterns related to the state of the disease in afflicted individuals.  Read more...