Characterisation of CTCs and cDNA in patients with cancer
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Characterisation of circulating tumour cells and cDNA in patients with cancer
IRAS ID
105772
Contact name
Tim Meyer
Contact email
Research summary
The treatment of cancer involves drugs that target different pathways involved in the formation of tumours. To improve outcomes from treatment we need better ways to predict which patients will benefit from therapy. Advances in technology allow us to study individual tumour cells from patients which can provide information about prognosis and response to treatment. These tumour cells can be isolated from the blood (circulating tumour cells - CTCs) which avoids the need to perform a biopsy and allows tumour sampling to take place over the course of a patient’s treatment. This is important since tumours may adapt and become resistant to therapy and we may be able to detect signs of resistance in the tumour cells at an early stage allowing a switch to a different treatment. The current methods used to isolate CTCs does not isolate cells in all patients or in all cancers and this project aims to test a new method of collecting CTCs to see if more CTCS can be isolated in a higher proportion of patients with cancer. The ‘nanodetector’ is a device that consists of a thin gold wire that is coated with antibodies to pick up circulating tumour cells. It is inserted into a large vein in the forearm and left in place for 30 minutes before being removed and then sent for analysis. We will compare the results obtained from the cells collected by nanodetector with those of conventional methods and also with conventional biopsy specimens.The study is NOT designed to test the safety or efficacy of the nanodetector device, as this is already well established.
REC name
London - Bromley Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
13/LO/0376
Date of REC Opinion
24 May 2013
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion