In a development that could lead to personalised treatment for people suffering from cancer, Indian-origin researchers have devised a reliable way to grow tumour cells taken from patients in the lab.
The new technique developed by University of Michigan researchers is more than three times as effective as previous methods.
Researchers say it is a major step forward in the study of circulating tumour cells, which are shed from tumours and circulate through the blood of cancer patients.
They are believed to cause metastasis, the spread of cancer through the body that's responsible for nearly 90 per cent of cancer-related deaths.
The cells also hold valuable genetic information that could lead doctors to more informed treatment decisions and even tailor-made therapies for individual patients.
And because the cells circulate in the blood, they can be gathered with a blood draw rather than a more invasive tissue biopsy. But progress has been slow, largely because the cells are rare in early-stage cancer patients.
The new capture and culture method changes this by providing a reliable way to get usable numbers of circulating tumour cells from even early-stage patients.
It grew new cells from 73 per cent of the patients in a recent study, more than three times the success rate of previous methods and a first for early-stage cancers.
It's a major game changer, according to Sunitha Nagrath, U-M assistant professor of chemical engineering who is working to develop the new technology.
"This culture method gives clinicians a way to study each patient's cancer much earlier and much more frequently," Nagrath said.
"We can look for resistance to therapy and test potential therapeutics. It also moves us closer to being able to predict metastasis," Nagrath added.
The technique may also bring doctors closer to their goal of capturing cancer cells for diagnosis with a quick, non-invasive "blood biopsy" instead of the tissue biopsies that are currently used.
This could enable them to keep closer tabs on each patient's status and make more informed treatment decisions.
The capture and culture process starts with a microfluidic chip device that captures cancer cells as a blood sample is pumped across it.
The research team, including Nithya Ramnath, U-M associate professor of medical oncology, used a chip made of polydimethylsiloxane on a 1-inch by 3-inch glass slide.
They covered the chip with microscopic posts that slow and trap cells, then coated it with antibodies that bind to the cancer cells.
After the cancer cells were captured on the chip, the team pumped in a mixture of collagen and Matrigel growth medium.
