Clapper, Patti, Schweizer and Mason

Detecting mesothelioma cells in a person’s bloodstream can be maddeningly difficult.  As Doctor Yoshinobu Baba brought to light in a recent talk, “In every 20 drops of blood, there are over 5 million white blood cells and 4 billion red blood cells, but there may be only one cancer cell.”  However, a certain type of pond scum has been used in a laboratory setting to isolate tiny amounts of cancer cells within human blood both simply and effectively, helping identify malignancy earlier.

A joint team of researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center discovered that certain chemical compounds could bind with circulating tumor cells (CTCs).   CTCs are tumor cells that break away from the main body and get carried by the bloodstream to other portions of the body.  Once these compounds attached to these cells, they could be extracted or separated from normal healthy blood cells.  This discovery could have a wide range of applications in not only the diagnosis of mesothelioma and other forms of cancer but possible treatments including the prevention of metastasis, the spread of cancer throughout the body.  

Doctor Baba took that research and ran with it, discovering that certain type of pond scum could to the same thing as the chemical compounds used in the American research.  Doctor Baba presented his findings to his colleagues at the 243rd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

The pond scum, Euglena, has the ability to actually propel itself through water using energy captured through photosynthesis.  By modifying the Euglena by adding a cancer cell-receptive antibody to the surface of the pond scum cells, Doctor Baba was able to cause the Euglena to attach itself to cancer cells.  Once the connection was made, light was shined into the test chamber which caused the Euglena to propel itself away from the stimulus—along with the attached cancer cell.  Scientists were then able to identify and capture the cancer cell, removing it from the solution.

Though that was the extent of Baba’s experiment, the doctor was quick to add that the selected cell could then be subject to a variety of tests and would allow doctors to lower the “. . . risk of false alarms and perhaps help with decisions about treatment.”

Researchers were quick to warn that this technology is still very experimental.  The testing involved only a “microchamber” and simulated low concentrations of cancer cells.  However, the theory proved sound and may be ready for a much larger experiment.

This research could prove invaluable for mesothelioma patients because when a cancer metastasizes the chances of effectively treating it are greatly diminished.  By detecting whether or not metastasis has occurred, doctors can effectively plot a personalized mesothelioma treatment approach that would include detailed risk assessments and predictions for success.  Currently, doctors are forced to rely on ineffective tests for metastasis which require much higher concentrations of blood-born cancer tumor cells or discovery of secondary tumors in other portions of the body.

Doctor Baba is already planning the next phase of his research and is ramping up the scope to add not only CTC capturing capabilities but also cancer cell DNA testing to his methods.

Source:

http://www.mesotheliomahelp.net/blog/2012/03/can-pond-scum-help-detect-mesothelioma-cancer-cells