(Press-News.org) DENVER — Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) may be a promising alternative, noninvasive source of tumor materials for biomarker assessment, according to data presented at the Fourth AACR International Conference on Molecular Diagnostics in Cancer Therapeutic Development.
"The basic idea is that CTCs can provide real-time information about a patient's current disease state, acting as a 'liquid biopsy,'" said Siminder Kaur Atwal, Ph.D., senior research associate at Genentech. "They are much less invasive than tumor biopsies because they can be detected from a blood draw and don't require surgical intervention."
For this study, Atwal and colleagues compared the CTC capture efficiency of the Food and Drug Administration-approved CellSearch platform with two biochip platforms, using tumor cell lines spiked into whole blood. They tried to detect epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) protein expression in CTCs from patients with lung cancer and HER2 expression or amplification in CTCs in patients with metastatic breast cancer.
Under the tested conditions, CellSearch and the newer biochip platforms offered similar efficiency. Further, capture efficiency was dependent on EpCAM (epithelial cell adhesion molecule) expression.
"This may be a limitation in capturing CTCs from certain tumor types, notably triple-negative breast cancers," Atwal said.
Captured CTCs were amenable to biomarker analyses such as HER2 status, qRT-PCR for breast cancer subtype markers, KRAS mutation detection and EGFR staining by immunofluorescence, the researchers found. In patients with HER2-positive breast cancer, HER2 status in CTCs and tumor tissue generally correlated; however, in one patient subset, HER2 status changed from the primary tumor at diagnosis. This finding indicates that in some cases, CTCs may offer a real-time view of a patient's biomarker status that is different from diagnostic tissue, Atwal said.
Some improvements are necessary in CTC detection and capture before the technology can be generally useful in clinical biomarker analysis, Atwal said. Future studies will focus on evaluating different detection and capture methods with a particular emphasis on tumor types with a low EpCAM expression. In addition, future research will look for other biomarkers in CTCs to determine if they represent a patient's tumor, she said.
###
Follow the AACR on Twitter: @AACR #AACR
Follow the AACR on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/aacr.org
The mission of the American Association for Cancer Research is to prevent and cure cancer. Founded in 1907, the AACR is the world's oldest and largest professional organization dedicated to advancing cancer research. The membership includes 32,000 basic, translational and clinical researchers; health care professionals; and cancer survivors and advocates in the United States and more than 90 other countries. The AACR marshals the full spectrum of expertise from the cancer community to accelerate progress in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer through high-quality scientific and educational programs. It funds innovative, meritorious research grants, research fellowships and career development awards. The AACR Annual Meeting attracts more than 18,000 participants who share the latest discoveries and developments in the field. Special Conferences throughout the year present novel data across a wide variety of topics in cancer research, treatment and patient care. The AACR publishes six major peer-reviewed journals: Cancer Research; Clinical Cancer Research; Molecular Cancer Therapeutics; Molecular Cancer Research; Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention; and Cancer Prevention Research. The AACR also publishes CR, a magazine for cancer survivors and their families, patient advocates, physicians and scientists, providing a forum for sharing essential, evidence-based information and perspectives on progress in cancer research, survivorship and advocacy.
END
DENVER — Researchers in England say they have discovered a set of biomarkers that can distinguish prostate cancer from benign prostate disease and healthy tissue with 90 percent accuracy. This preliminary data, if validated in larger ongoing studies, could be developed into a serum protein test that reduces the number of unnecessary biopsies and identifies men who need treatment before symptoms begin.
The researchers, from Oxford Gene Technology (OGT) and its subsidiary, Sense Proteomic, Ltd., presented their findings at the Fourth AACR International Conference on Molecular ...
DENVER — Using a novel aptamer-based proteomics array technology, researchers and collaborators have identified biomarkers and protein signatures that are hallmarks of cancer at an early stage for two of the most aggressive and deadly forms of cancer — pancreatic and mesothelioma.
This technology would enable better clinical diagnosis at an earlier stage and may provide insight into new therapeutic targets, said Rachel Ostroff, Ph.D., clinical research director of Somalogic Inc.
"Currently these cancers are detected at an advanced stage, where the possibility of cure ...
DENVER — African-American patients with non-small cell lung cancer are just as likely to display an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation in tumors as Caucasians, which suggests they are as likely to benefit from targeted therapies such as erlotinib.
"This study has immediate implications for patient management. Patients with EGFR mutations have a much better prognosis and respond better to erlotinib than those who do not," said Ramsi Haddad, Ph.D., director of the Laboratory of Translational Oncogenomics at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, and assistant ...
DENVER — Researchers believe there may be a way to predict, based on individual tumors, those patients that are more likely to respond to the investigational new drug tivozanib.
This is possible, the researchers from AVEO Pharmaceuticals, Inc. said, because they have used a new way of creating animal tumor models that mimic tumor variation seen in human. Based on the results of these studies, they have found a single biomarker that may predict resistance to tivozanib, an oral, triple VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) receptor inhibitor.
Tivozanib is in an ...
DENVER — A novel technology can make nanoscale protein measurements, which scientists can use in clinical trials to learn how drugs work.
"We are making progress toward the goal of understanding how drugs work in different individuals," said Alice C. Fan, M.D., instructor in the division of oncology at Stanford University School of Medicine. "Using new technologies makes it possible to measure effects of therapeutic agents in tumor cells and different cell populations within our patients. Now that we can make these measurements, we are one step closer to being able to ...
DENVER — Scientists may have discovered a way to diagnose bladder cancer at its earliest and, therefore, most treatable stages by measuring the presence or absence of microRNA using already available laboratory tests.
"Measuring expressions of microRNA in bodily fluid represents a very promising tool with widespread implications for screening," said Liana Adam, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor in urology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Adam presented her findings at the Fourth AACR International Conference on Molecular Diagnostics in Cancer Therapeutic ...
DENVER — Targeting c-Met may be a promising personalized treatment method for approximately 45 percent of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who have c-Met-positive tumors, according to study results presented at the Fourth AACR International Conference on Molecular Diagnostics in Cancer Therapeutic Development.
HCC is the most common primary malignant tumor of the liver; c-Met is a receptor for hepatocyte growth factor that appears to drive liver cancer growth, invasion and metastasis.
"Current therapies for HCC patients are 'one size fits all.' We propose ...
Detection of acute HIV infection (the stage of disease immediately after HIV acquisition but before HIV antibodies are detectable) with pooled nucleic acid amplification testing (that detects the presence of HIV genetic material in the blood before antibodies are detectable) is feasible but not cost-effective in all settings. Rather, pooled nucleic acid amplification testing after testing for antibodies with third-generation enzyme immunoassays (which can detect the first antibody to appear after infection) or rapid testing is only cost-effective when targeted to settings ...
In research published this week in PLoS Medicine, Vincent Gajdos and colleagues report the results of a randomized trial conducted among hospitalized infants with bronchiolitis. The researchers enrolled nearly 500 children aged 15 days to 2 years who were admitted to seven French hospitals for a first episode of acute bronchiolitis. Their results show that a physiotherapy technique (increased exhalation and assisted cough) commonly used in France does not reduce time to recovery in this population. The researchers conclude "Our results did not support the recommendation ...
Biologists from The University of Texas at Arlington have uncovered virus fragments from the same family of the modern Hepatitis B virus locked inside the genomes of songbirds such as the modern-day zebra finch. The article, publishing next week in the online, open access journal PLoS Biology, marks the first time that endogenous hepadnaviruses have been found in any organism. An endogenous virus is one that deposits itself or fragments of itself into the chromosome of an organism, allowing it to be passed from generation-to-generation. Previously, most of these known "fossilized" ...
