Mimark

At MiMARK we care about women's health. We are developing innovative in vitro tests to solve unmet clinical needs.

Case history

Early and accurate detection of endometrial cancer is an important factor for patient survival. The current diagnostic process is based on a pathological examination of a minimally invasive endometrial biopsy obtained through aspiration of the uterine cavity. This technique does not enable a diagnosis to be reached in 22% of cases and fails to provide correct information on the histological type and grade of the tumour in 55% of cases, mainly because of the lack of representative tumour cells in the sample. That is when an invasive biopsy is needed for properly diagnosing patients. This inefficient and inaccurate diagnostic process has dramatic consequences on the life expectancy and quality life of patients and is associated with high health costs.

Solution to the unresolved need

WomEC is an in vitro diagnostic tool (IVD) that enables an accurate and efficient diagnosis, with a 97% negative predictive value, and provides information on the histological type of the tumour. Our IVD is based on assessments of the five protein biomarkers in the uterine fluid with two unique qualities: a 97% negative predictive value and information on the tumour’s features. Our solution enables us to:

obtain 100% of the diagnoses at the first consultation
rule out cancer with a high reliability
obtain objective information on tumour histology, which will help gynaecologists to guide optimal surgical treatment for patients with endometrial cancer

Landmarks

Validation of the clinical need with over 50 interviews
Two patents at national stages: AU, BR, CA, US, EU, JP, CH
International publications in indexed journals:

Coll-de la Rubia E, Martinez-Garcia E, Dittmar G, Gil-Moreno A, Cabrera S, Colas E. Prognostic Biomarkers in Endometrial Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. J Clin Med. 2020 Jun 17;9(6):1900. doi: 10.3390/jcm9061900. PMID: 32560580
Martinez-Garcia E, Lopez-Gil C, Campoy I, Vallve J, Coll E, Cabrera S, Ramon Y Cajal S, Matias-Guiu X, Van Oostrum J, Reventos J, Gil-Moreno A, Colas E. Advances in endometrial cancer protein biomarkers for use in the clinic. Expert Rev Proteomics. 2018 Jan;15(1):81-99. doi: 10.1080/14789450.2018.1410061. Epub 2017 Nov 30. PMID: 29183259
Martinez-Garcia E, Lesur A, Devis L, Cabrera S, Matias-Guiu X, Hirschfeld M, Asberger J, van Oostrum J, Casares de Cal MLÁ, Gómez-Tato A, Reventos J, Domon B, Colas E, Gil-Moreno A. Targeted Proteomics Identifies Proteomic Signatures in Liquid Biopsies of the Endometrium to Diagnose Endometrial Cancer and Assist in the Prediction of the Optimal Surgical Treatment. Clin Cancer Res. 2017 Nov 1;23(21):6458-6467. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-17-0474. Epub 2017 Aug 8. PMID: 28790116
Martinez-Garcia E, Lesur A, Devis L, Campos A, Cabrera S, van Oostrum J, Matias-Guiu X, Gil-Moreno A, Reventos J, Colas E, Domon B. Oncotarget. Development of a sequential workflow based on LC-PRM for the verification of endometrial cancer protein biomarkers in uterine aspirate samples. 2016 Aug 16;7(33):53102-53115. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.10632. PMID: 27447978

Next steps: chronogram