University of New England student Connor LaBonte works in the lab at UNE in Portland on Tuesday. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald

A blood test developed at the University of New England could help more women survive one of the most aggressive forms of breast cancer.

The test — which searches for a biomarker in plasma — could be a game changer for women who contract triple negative breast cancer, which has a 77% survival rate and affects about 70,000 women each year in the United States. It has been through initial clinical trials but still requires review and approval by the Food and Drug Administration.

Dr. Srinidi Mohan, a pharmacy professor at the University of New England, has been researching a biomarker test for triple negative breast cancer for more than a decade. He was researching nutritional supplements when he unexpectedly discovered the biomarker in 2014. Mohan was awarded a patent for the test by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 2018.

“I’m humbled to have been in the right place at the right time. Knowing this will help patients is what has kept me going, kept me motivated,” Mohan said. “It’s about time for this test to start saving lives.”

Mohan said he recently completed the clinical trial he was working on in conjunction with MaineHealth, and the test is now awaiting FDA approval. If it obtains final approval — which will take about four or five years — doctors across the country will be able to use the test during various phases of treatment.

Mohan said doctors will use the test to more quickly determine whether the treatments patients are undergoing for breast cancer, such as chemotherapy, are working. If they are not working, doctors will be able to more swiftly switch patients to other treatments that could work better at eliminating the cancerous cells. In some cases, patients who otherwise would have undergone mastectomies will avoid the surgery.

“If we can minimize exposure to therapies that are not working, that will really help the patients,” Mohan said.

The test, while seeking FDA approval as a post-diagnosis test, could also eventually have broader applications for breast cancer screenings. Mohan said that would especially help in rural areas where patients have a harder time accessing mammograms, and in other countries where mammograms are inaccessible.

Mohan said the test may eventually supplement some of the routine mammogram testing. The research could also have similar applications for ovarian and other cancers.

Srinidi Mohan, left, is shown with students Connor LaBonte, Megan Steele and Will Speltz in the lab at UNE in Portland on Tuesday. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland

UNE and MaineHealth collaborated on a successful clinical trial of 44 Maine patients, Mohan said, proving that the test worked. The FDA will expand testing to 200-300 patients nationwide.

Dr. Susan Miesfeldt, who worked with Mohan on the research trial, said the test’s goal is to improve “the outcome of those facing a cancer diagnosis. As an easy-to-use blood test, it has very promising global applications.”

To help with the FDA approval process, UNE signed an intellectual property license agreement with Satya Diagnostics, a Maine-based testing firm. Satya Diagnostics was granted $100,000 in MaineHealth Bonfire Funding, a program designed to help spur innovation in medicine.

Susan Ahern, MaineHealth’s vice president of innovation, said “we have amazing talent and great ideas” in Maine, and getting groups of people to work together can help get something like Mohan’s biomarker test across the finish line. MaineHealth’s NorDx lab and Maine Cancer Foundation have also been part of the team.