It was announced this week that Warnex Medical Laboratories, a division of Warnex Inc., will be the Canadian distributor for three recently launched genetic biomarker diagnositc tests produced by Rosetta Genomics, Ltd. The tests, branded as miRview™, include a test for the detection and diagnosis of mesothelioma.

Warnex is a life sciences company providing laboratory services to the pharmaceutical and health care industries. The company will market the miRview™ products and will send samples gathered from the tests from Canada to the Rosetta Genomics laboratory in Philadelphia for analysis. Warnex has three facilities, located in Laval and Blainville, Quebec, and Thunder Bay, Ontario.

We’ve written about the miRview™ products on this site in the past. They include miRview™ mets, which can identify the primary tumor site in patients presenting with metastatic cancer; miRview™ squamous, which differentiates squamous from non-squamous, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC); and miRview™ meso, which leverages microRNA’s high specificity as biomarkers to differentiate mesothelioma from other carcinomas in the lungs.

All three of the miRview tests utilize MicroRNA technology. According to Rosetta Genomics, microRNAs (or miRNAs) are recently discovered, naturally occurring, small RNAs that act as master regulators and have the potential to form the basis for a new class of diagnostics and therapeutics. This is because microRNAs have been shown to have different expression in various pathological conditions, the observation of which can provide a novel diagnostic tool for many diseases.

According to Rosetta Genomics, the miRview™ meso product is a highly accurate test that can help physicians to more easily identify mesothelioma, which can be hard to differentiate from other cancers. The test also can help rule out a meso diagnosis in patients who have been diagnosed with adenocarcinoma of the lung and who also have been exposed to asbestos, which is known to cause mesothelioma.

I came across a news story today about Rosetta Genomics, a company that is pioneering the technology of microRNA-based diagnostic tests and therapeutic tools. According to the company web site, microRNAs, or miRNAs, are a recently discovered group of short non-coding genes that regulate the expression of other genes. What this means to the lay person is that by looking at the very specific markers in these genes, physicians can more accurately identify cancer, predict outcomes and help guide treatment.

Among Rosetta’s products is miRview™ meso, which is described as a “cutting edge molecular diagnostic test that uses microRNA to differentiate malignant pleural mesothelioma from peripheral adenocarcinomas of the lung or metastatic carcinomas involving the lung and pleura.” According to the company, accuracy for this test has been 95 percent for sensitivity and 96 percent for specificity in identifying mesothelioma.

Obviously, the sooner mesothelioma can be identified, the sooner a correct course of treatment can begin.

You can watch a video from the company’s web site with 3-D animation that demonstrates how microRNA diagnostics work to detect mesothelioma.

You can also download a brochure that explains how miRview™ meso works in more detail.

According to RNAi News, a publication that spotlights technology for functional genomics, this week Rosetta Genomics announced that it has closed a deal with Prometheus Laboratories that will give Prometheus the U.S. market rights to Rosetta’s three microRNA-based diagnostics, which includes the meso diagnostic. The other two products are miRview Mets, which is designed to determine the source of cancers of unknown primary origin, and miRview Squamous, which is designed to differentiate squamous from non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer.

The deal will provide Rosetta with funding for research and development, and the company will receive royalties on net product sales from Prometheus, RNAi News reports. The companies also will jointly develop two additional miRNA-based gastroenterology diagnostics.

Mesothelioma is a rare cancer caused by asbestos exposure that most often affects the lining of the lungs, although it can also affect the lining of the stomach and/or the heart.