Dr. Kanury Rao develops a novel technology for early-stage cancer detection

Dr. Kanury Rao, and eminent Indian scientist, and his team have developed an innovative new technology for detection of early-stage cancers in women. Currently, the test simultaneously detects the presence of early stages of breast cancer, uterine cancer, cervical cancer, and ovarian cancer. The technology developed by Dr. Kanury Rao and his team analyzes small molecules, or metabolites, present in the blood of patients using a technique called mass spectrometry. An artificial intelligence algorithm then analyzes the data to identify metabolite patterns that identify the cancer. The accuracy achieved by this method is about 98% and an international patent has been filed by the team.

Cancer is fast becoming the major cause of death in both developed and developing countries, with the incidence rates also rising rapidly. Dr. Kanury Rao say, “The death toll from cancer is primarily because it is diagnosed too late in most cases. As a result of this prognosis is already poor by the time treatment starts.” He further adds that, “Detection at the early stage is key to reducing the deaths due to cancer. Because at this stage, the cancer has not yet significantly progressed and can still be amenable to treatment.”

Dr. Kanury Rao has expressed the hope that their new technology, which has been named as Stage021, can help save the lives of many women. Over 7 million new cancer cases are detected in women every year and close to half of these may not survive. Therefore, technologies such as Stage021 that can catch cancer at an early stage in women are the urgent need of our times, believes Dr. Kanury Rao. Stage021 has been developed using samples from women across different countries and populations and, therefore, has global potential. Field trials are currently underway in India to demonstrate its utility for women in our country. In addition to this, clinical trials are also being planned in other countries and these are expected to commence early next year.

Dr. Kanury Rao also emphasizes that the scope of this technology is immense and can be further expanded. More recently, they have expanded the scope of Stage021 to cover a total of 12 cancers in women. In addition to breast, uterine, cervical and ovarian cancers, the additional cancers that can now be detected are lung cancer, thyroid cancer, kidney cancer, leukemia, lymphoma, colorectal cancer, melanoma, and pancreatic cancer. The accuracy that they have currently achieved is 96%. Many of these cancers are very hard to detect and Dr. Kanury Venkata Subba Rao believes that what he and his team have developed is a breakthrough technology. Along with attempts to further improve the accuracy, they are also working on adding head and neck cancer, stomach cancer, and liver cancer. In addition to this, they have also started developing a parallel technology for early-stage cancers in men.

Dr. Kanury Rao notes that Stage021 is very easy to implement as a screening platform for women. All it requires is a few drops of blood, and it can be readily integrated with the annual health checkup plans that people undergo.