Midkine: a powerful indicator of early cancer
Extensively validated as a cancer biomarker, midkine has three distinct advantages over many current biomarkers used to manage disease:
- Midkine is elevated very early in disease, often well before any symptoms are apparent
- Midkine is elevated in many types of cancer, giving midkine broad diagnostic potential
- Midkine is readily measured in the non-invasive biofluids of blood and urine, and does not require a biopsy for measurement
Jones (2014), British journal of Pharmacology
Cellmid has a licensing agreement with Pacific Edge Ltd. regarding the use of midkine as a marker
in its CX bladder cancer diagnostic panel. The
product is on the market in the USA, Spain, Australia and New Zealand.
Cellmid has developed a fully validated and CE marked MK ELISA which accurately quantifies serum midkine levels. As well as selling this assay to the research community, Cellmid is using this assay in multiple in-house diagnostic programs. There
is potential for us to validate this system for urine midkine measurement,
expanding the capability of this platform.