Singapore scientists develop new tech to monitor cancer treatment response

A team of scientists at the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (Smart) and Mechanobiology Institute at the National University of Singapore (NUS) have developed a new technology that offers the potential to aid doctors in determining how well a patient responds to cancer treatment.

Instead of looking at the tumors themselves, the scientists decided to look at circulating tumor cells. These are cells that break off from tumors and as they travel in the bloodstream, they can form tumors in other parts of the body, otherwise known as metastatic tumors.

Circulating tumor cells are rare, with one circulating tumor cell in about one billion blood cells.But they can provide useful clues on how well a particular cancer treatment is working for the patient.

So scientists developed a blood-based platform or assay that can culture these tumor cells. Once the blood samples are collected, scientists culture them to see if they form clusters of circulating tumor cells.

“How well a patient responds to treatment correlates with the potential of the patient’s sample to form clusters. The presence of clusters suggests that patient response is poor as this could mean the cancer cells are more resistant and growing better,” said Dr.Khoo Bee Luan, post-doctoral associate from Smart, who is the lead researcher behind the technology.

Currently, doctors use bioimaging scans to monitor tumor growth, and tumor biopsies to gauge a patient’s response to treatment. But scans and biopsies may not always be accurate.

The new assay also allows scientists and clinicians to culture cells in just two weeks, which would enable doctors to quickly intervene. This makes it the fastest method out there when it comes to culturing circulating tumor cells, as others can take more than six months, according to Dr. Khoo.

The new method has been validated with blood samples from 55 breast cancer patients. They include those with early-stage, newly diagnosed and advanced breast cancer. Those who were responding well to treatment (mostly chemotherapy) had circulating tumor cells which formed fewer clusters.

Associate Professor Lee Soo Chin, who was part of the research team, said that with this technology, there is also the potential to test cancer cells for sensitivity to anti-cancer drugs.

“If validated, the test may be used to guide the choice of anti-cancer therapy in patients,” said the associate director (research) and senior consultant, department of hematology-oncology, National University Cancer Institute, Singapore.

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