Researchers develop new tests to predict therapy for women with ER + breast cancer -
Researchers at Case Western Reserve University are teaming up with the industry and other academics to develop a rapid and inexpensive test to predict which women ER + breast cancer need chemotherapy and which need the most tolerable hormone therapy.
National Cancer Institute has awarded the group a five-year grant of $ 3.3 million to produce software that takes into account the minute characteristics in pathology images to distinguish between the two groups and develop an image based risk score.
Estrogen receptor-positive or ER +, is the most common form of breast cancer with nearly 1 million women worldwide diagnosed with the disease each year. Medical guidelines recommend chemotherapy and hormonal therapy, although the researchers estimate that more than half of women with ER + do not require or benefit from a harsh chemotherapy.
The only test to predict which women need chemotherapy costs about $ 4000 and takes up to two weeks to produce results. For many women, particularly in developing countries, the test is not a realistic option.
"With this technology, any woman with breast cancer is suspected will have a biopsy, the blades that can be scanned and analyzed for pennies on the dollar," said Anant Madabhushi, Professor F. Alex Nason II of biomedical engineering at Case Western Reserve and leader of the research.
"it will be particularly useful in low- and middle-income," said Madabhushi, who also directs the Center for case Western Reserve for Imaging and Computational Diagnostics custom and a member of the case Comprehensive Cancer Center. "If you can accurately determine the cancer does not require chemotherapy, you are not only saving the patient against the adverse effects of the therapy, but saving your resources."
Because images can be sent electronically worldwide, patients be able to receive their results in a day or even hours, saving weeks of worry, say the researchers.
academic work with Florida-based Inspirata Inc., to develop a way to translate and market the technology quickly.
Inspirata ensure that software development follows the protocols necessary for approval Food and Drug Administration of the United States. The company will work with researchers and plans to create a university pre-commercial prototype
Researchers will use slides from two clinical trials cooperative :. Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project and to validate the tools they develop.
EmoticonEmoticon