Ciphergen Unit to Help ADDNET Develop Urine-based Molecular Diagnostics for Renal Disease

NEW YORK, Dec. 15 (GenomeWeb News) - A unit of Ciphergen Biosystems will collaborate with the ADDNET consortium to create molecular diagnostics for kidney disease that relies on urine samples as opposed to traditional tissue biopsies, the company said today,

Existing blood and urine tests "cannot detect subclinical renal disease, and, although kidney biopsies are accurate, they are invasive and therefore cannot be a routine clinical test," the unit, Ciphergen Diagnostics, said in a statement.

As a result, the Sixth Framework Programme has funded this multi-year, multi-institution project to employ genomic, proteomic, and bioinformatics tools to "identify and validate a set of key molecular markers directly from patient urine that may yield novel diagnostic markers for the early and accurate non-invasive diagnosis of renal disease," the statement said.

Ciphergen Diagnostics will work with the ADDNET consortium, which is funded by the Sixth Framework Programme of the European Union. The consortium, which comprises six participants from four countries, is led by Harry Holthofer at the Universityof Helsinki.