Thursday 24 November 2016

Device uses cancer cells' mass to predict response to treatment

The presence of specific genetic mutations in a tumor may help predict whether the patient is likely to respond to treatment with a particular therapy. Some researchers are trying to pinpoint these genetic mutations for diverse cancer types and to develop tests that can reliably identify them. Some have designed a device that can detect minuscule changes in cell mass and may allow researchers to predict how cancer cells will respond to drug treatment. Such a device could potentially help clinicians determine personalized treatment regimens for individual patients, the study authors believe.

Using cancer cells from patients and mice, the researchers showed that the device, which measures changes in the mass of single cells, correctly predicted whether the cells were sensitive or resistant to a particular drug.

The results of the study, which was funded in part by NCI's Innovative Molecular Analysis Technologies (IMAT) program, appeared in Nature Biotechnology on October 10.

See the study:
Drug sensitivity of single cancer cells is predicted by changes in mass accumulation rate.
Stevens MM, Maire CL, Chou N, Murakami MA, Knoff DS, Kikuchi Y, Kimmerling RJ, Liu H, Haidar S, Calistri NL, Cermak N, Olcum S, Cordero NA, Idbaih A, Wen PY, Weinstock DM, Ligon KL, Manalis SR.
Nat Biotechnol. 2016 Nov;34(11):1161-1167. doi: 10.1038/nbt.3697.

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