Equipment refinements could improve prostrate cancer treatment

April 2010  

Future treatment for prostate cancer could improve following technical improvements to a microchip-based device used for detecting and analysing tumour cells in the bloodstream.

Refinements to the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Center for Engineering in Medicine-developed CTC-chip may allow better monitoring of how circulating tumour cell (CTCs) levels react to treatment for the condition.

A report in Science Translational Medicine revealed that the changes could also make it possible for scientists to identify key biological properties of the cells and improve treatments.

Lead study author Dr Shannon Stott of the MGH Center for Engineering in Medicine said scientists' ability to analyse 'cellular factors that could be markers for important properties of the tumours' were limited before the changes.

'The earlier versions of the CTC-chip required hand-counting of thousands of microscopic images, which was sufficient for the initial proof-of-principle studies but far too time-intensive for handling high volumes of patient samples,' he explained.

Prostate cancer is characterised by common symptoms such as pain on passing urine, as well as blood in the urine or semen.