The Oncotype DX test analyses a breast cancer tumour sample to predict the likelihood of cancer recurrence. 

The test helps the oncologist conclude if the patient should undergo chemotherapy or not, and costs a few lakhs.  

But a PhD alumnus from IISc (Indian Institute of Science), Manjiri Bakre, has innovated an Indian variant of the test, CanAssist Breast (CAB), that can essentially achieve the same objective and is priced around Rs 65,000. 

In 2011, when Manjiri started her company, OncoStem, she was keen on developing a cost-effective, accurate, and simple-to-perform prognostic test to help determine which early-stage breast cancer patients genuinely need chemotherapy and who can safely avoid it. 

She explains, “The test uses an AI-based algorithm to generate a recurrence risk score from 1 to 100, categorising patients as low risk or high risk for cancer recurrence over five years.”

Manjiri continues, “For patients identified as low risk (~70 percent), chemotherapy offers little clinical benefit and can often be avoided, sparing them from long-term physical and emotional side effects, as well as monetary drain. High-risk patients, on the other hand, receive clear, evidence-backed guidance to proceed with chemotherapy and other treatments.” 

‘Can we tell how aggressive a cancer may become?’

A personal loss led Manjiri to develop the test. 

She recalls, “While I was pursuing my PhD, I had a friend who felt a small lump in her breast. Further tests revealed she had breast cancer. She had the tumour removed and started undergoing treatment; she soon moved for her postdoctoral research fellowship abroad. But the cancer was aggressive and kept recurring. Within a few years, she passed........

© The Better India