AccuStem Sciences Inc. announced a strategic plan to further develop and operationalize the StemPrintER assay. The 20-gene StemPrintER test stratifies patients with early stage breast cancer according to their recurrence risk. The test is intended to measure the “stemness” of tumors, or how much they behave like stem cells, which may indicate the likelihood of cancer progression and response to standard treatment modalities.

Studies published in peer-reviewed journals have shown that StemPrintER is highly prognostic, with “high stemness” patients up to 4 times as likely to experience a distant recurrence as “low stemness” patients. AccuStem has signed an agreement with a leader in the genomic testing space that will support further clinical validation of the StemPrintER with the goal of operationalizing the assay in their laboratory. The partnership will leverage the similarity in platforms, technologies and human capital at both companies.