Researchers have created a mechanism to quickly and effectively measure how circulating tumor cells (CTCs) perform functions that drive disease, according to an article published by UCLA researchers in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The method seeks to expand the information that could be gleamed from a liquid biopsy, allowing researchers and healthcare professionals to understand how tumor cells act with just a small volume of blood.
One challenge to obtaining information from circulating tumor cells isolated by liquid biopsy is that a single cell produces only a small number of molecules, which become overly diluted in the large pools of fluid traditional tests rely on.
The researchers got around this limitation by putting each cell into an individual drop of fluid, much smaller than a traditional laboratory test tube. This enables the molecules to stay in a highly concentrated state once secreted by the cells.
As proof-of-concept the scientists used the new approach to detect the activity of matrix metalloproteases (MMPs), a class of enzymes involved in cancer spread, in people with advanced prostate cancer. Cells from a total of 11 people were analyzed—seven with late-stage prostate cancer and four who were healthy. The test revealed that MMPs were produced at higher levels in those with advanced disease.
"With this type of measurement tool, you could potentially figure out which drugs would work best for each person before even starting treatment," said Dino Di Carlo, a UCLA professor of bioengineering and the study's principal investigator. "Cancer isn't a one-size-fits all disease. This tool can really help us customize treatments and only use drugs targeting proteases on the patients who would actually benefit from it."