Hand-held unit to detect cancer in poorer countries

ScienceDaily (Aug. 26, 2011) — An engineering researcher and a global health expert from Michigan State University are working on bringing a low-cost, hand-held device to nations with limited resources to help physicians detect and diagnose cancer.

Syed Hashsham, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at MSU, is developing the Gene-Z device, which is operated using an iPod Touch or Android-based tablet and performs genetic analysis on microRNAs and other genetic markers. MicroRNAs are single-stranded molecules that regulate genes; changes in certain microRNAs have been linked to cancer and other health-related issues.

He is working with Reza Nassiri, director of MSU's Institute of International Health and an assistant dean in the College of Osteopathic Medicine, on the medical capabilities for the device and establishing connections with physicians worldwide.

Cancer is emerging as a leading cause of death in underdeveloped and developing countries where resources for cancer screening are almost non-existent, Nassiri said.

"Until now, little effort has been concentrated on moving cancer detection to global health settings in resource-poor countries," he said. "Early cancer detection in these countries may lead to affordable management of cancers with the aid of new screening and diagnostic technologies that can overcome global health care disparities."

Hashsham demonstrated the potential of the Gene-Z at the National Institutes of Health's first Cancer Detection and Diagnostics Conference. The conference, held recently in Bethesda, Md., was sponsored by the Fogarty International Center and the National Cancer Institute.

"Gene-Z has the capability to screen for established markers of cancer at extremely low costs in the field," Hashsham said. "Because it is a hand-held device operated by a battery and chargeable by solar energy, it is extremely useful in limited-resource settings."

The NIH conference was attended by several U.S. research institutions, including MSU. One of the primary objectives of the meeting was to address the utility of new cancer detection technologies.

Since cancer diagnostics and rapid screening methods currently are not suitable for low-income and resource-limited countries, Nassiri said a concentrated effort should be made to develop more appropriate and cost-effective technologies such as the one developed by Hashsham for widespread global use.

Nassiri said the goal is to continue the partnership between Hashsham and MSU's Institute of International Health to promote his Gene-Z device globally and validate it in the field with clinical care partners across the world.

In addition to cancer detection, the Gene-Z device also is being developed to diagnose routine tuberculosis and drug-resistant TB, determine HIV virus levels during treatment and monitor overall antibiotic resistance.

Working with Hashsham in the development of the Gene-Z device was a team of MSU students, led by Robert Stedtfeld and including Farhan Ahmad, Dieter Tourlousse and Greg Seyrig. The cancer marker approach was led by Maggie Kronlein, a civil and environmental engineering undergraduate researcher.

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The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Michigan State University.

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Intravenous virus eyed as possible cancer treatment

Scientists from the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute have succeeded in delivering a virus intravenously that only attacks cancer tumours and doesn't harm healthy tissues, according to a new study in the scientific journal Nature.

Dr. John Bell, a senior scientist at OHRI and senior co-author of the study, said the investigators were trying to demonstrate that it is possible to deliver such a virus intravenously in people. Previously, it had only been done in animals.

Ultimately, the goal is to use viruses as a cancer treatment, likely in combination with chemotherapy.

"In this study, the way we designed the virus is that it can only grow in cancers and cannot grow in any normal tissues," Bell said. "We think that with this selective approach we may be able to treat cancer continuously with the virus and hopefully effect a complete remission of the disease."

The study involved 23 patients (seven from Ottawa Hospital) who had advanced cancers that had spread to multiple organs. The objective was to prove that viruses could be delivered to tumours through the bloodstream, not to actually treat the patients involved.

"Intravenous delivery is crucial for cancer treatment because it allows us to target tumours throughout the body as opposed to just those that we can directly inject," Bell said, "The study is also important because it shows that we can use this approach to selectively express foreign genes in tumours, opening the door to a whole new suite of targeted cancer therapies."

Bell said those kinds of therapies are desirable because of the restrictions of current forms of treatment.

"The limitations of [chemotherapy and radiation therapy] are that they not only attack the cancer but unfortunately they also attack normal tissues," Bell said.

Bell added that the virus is particularly effective on solid tumors such as in the skin, breast, prostate or pancreas but less effective in leukemia and lymphoma.

Dr. Michael Baker, cancer researcher and professor of medicine at the University of Toronto, said the study is extremely promising but there is a way to go before it translates into a way of treating cancer.

"My educated guess would be we're talking two to four years before this is proven to be safe enough to carry actual therapeutic drugs and other destructive items right to the cancer cell, that's still a work in progress," Baker said.

The study called for patients to receive a single intravenous infusion of the virus (JX-594) at one of five dosage levels. Biopsies of their tumours were obtained 10 days later. In the two highest dosage groups, there was evidence in seven out of eight patients of viral replication in their tumours but not in healthy normal tissue.

Patients reported some side effects consisting of flu-like symptoms for less than 24 hours.

The virus used, a distant relative of smallpox that has been used as a vaccine against smallpox, seemed to be particularly effective at searching for cancerous tumours, according to the study.

Although other viruses have been studied, Baker said this particular virus has a "peculiar capacity."

"It's actually big enough to put things into it. And this experiment showed that those viruses are capable of carrying sizable other molecules to where they are supposed to go and then they multiply — many viruses are just passive carriers that get into the cell — [whereas] these viruses are alive and multiply and spread to other parts of the body where there are other cancers that have been spread."

Bell said the next step is to have trials consisting of a multi-dose regime and open trials around the world to test the virus more thoroughly.

"We'll hope to see we can improve outcomes of patient survival in these larger trials."

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