South Australian genomics company Bionomics (ASX:BNO) has found that antibodies against it's proprietary cancer drug target BNO69 can be used to distinguish between malignant and benign breast cancers.

Vice president of cancer research, Dr Gabriel Kremmidiotis, will present the data this week at the BIO2005 Conference in Philadelphia, USA.

The company's researchers have already shown that BNO69 is a key player in angiogenesis -- the prolific growth of new blood vessels that fuels the growth of all solid tumours. This new data now shows that the BNO69 protein can be used as a cancer diagnostic.

"On the one hand we're working on new drugs to inhibit BNO69 as a therapeutic -- we have developed a series of RNAsi [short interfering RNA] molecules that target the BNO69 gene and inhibit its expression," said Bionomic's CEO and managing director Deborah Rathjen. "And now we have a diagnostic means to differentiate both malignant and benign tumours and also potentially point to those patients who might benefit from a BNO69 approach."

The data was generated using biopsy tests as part of Bionomic's ongoing collaboration with Louisiana State University Health Sciences Centre.

The research found that in benign breast cancer samples the expression of the BNO69 protein was absent. However, in malignant cells BNO69 was over-expressed, said Rathjen.

"We'll certainly be doing more trials of the diagnostic application of [BNO69] to obviously look to move that into commercialisation," said Rathjen. "The commercialisation of the target and the RNAsi molecules are moving ahead now. That's a key objective for the 2005-06 financial year."

Bionomics is currently in discussions with a possible partner for the commercialisation of the diagnostic and the RNAsi molecules, and while Rathjen would not reveal the company's name she said that: "They're people who can take forward compounds and RNAsi molecules into clinical development."