The National Cancer Center (NCC) and Korea University Research and Business Foundation said Thursday they licensed out a triple-negative breast cancer prognostic biomarker to CbsBiosciences, a Korean AI-backed biomarker developer.

The triple-negative breast cancer prognostic biomarker discovers a biomarker gene panel with high prognostic power based on mRNA expression information of cancer tissues of breast cancer patients. 

Triple-negative breast cancer is a type of breast cancer that is difficult to treat as it does not express the estrogen, progesterone, and little of the HER2 receptor. 

The biomarker, jointly discovered through multicenter validation by the NCC and Korea University Anam Hospital, screens only high-risk breast cancer patients with high accuracy. 

In particular, the biomarker was effective when used with immune checkpoint inhibitors and chemotherapies for the treatment of locally recurrent and metastatic triple-negative breast cancer, which may lead to the approval of biomarker companion drugs in the future, the NCC said. 

"This technology transfer signifies a promising technology that can screen high-risk patients with low survival rates with high accuracy," said National Cancer Center Director Seo Hong-gwan. "We expect that the clinical application of the biomarker through the technology transfer will provide practical help in making decisions on chemotherapy treatment for high-risk patients and give hope to cancer patients."