Isolation and identification of spiked cancer cells in HNV blood

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    Development and optimisation of a protocol to isolate and identify circulating tumour cells from blood using a microfluidic cell separation system

  • IRAS ID

    200635

  • Contact name

    Stefan Peter

  • Contact email

    s.peter@angleplc.com

  • Sponsor organisation

    ANGLE Europe Ltd

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    3 years, 0 months, 1 days

  • Research summary

    The analysis of tumour cells using advanced genetic and molecular biology techniques provide the medical care team with valuable information that can be used to develop effective patient specific treatments. A cancer tissue sample is obtained through a surgical biopsy. This can be a complicated and intrusive procedure when tumours are located in difficult organ sites or when the primary tumours have been already removed and the metastatic tumours may be inaccessible. Moreover, this becomes increasingly complicated when following up the progression of the disease and the effectivity of the treatment.
    We propose the alternative of capturing and analysing circulating tumour cells that are shed from the tumour into the blood stream. This would be achieved through a small blood sample without compromising the health of the patient and that can be easily adapted into the current care regime. We will use the Parsortix™ cell separation system, an in-house developed instrument designed for isolating rare, large cells, such as cancer cells, from whole blood samples. The captured cells can then be harvested enabling a range of analysis techniques for identification and characterisation. The potential applications of the proposed methodology include the identification of cell based biomarkers for cancer diagnosis, prognosis, early detection and pharmacological response amongst others.
    The aim of this study is to establish the protocols for cell capture and analysis to validate the Parsortix™ system as a viable diagnostic instrument. In order to perform controlled experiments, we will use healthy normal volunteer blood samples what will be ‘spiked’ with known number of representative cancer cells as it is impossible to control the amount of tumour cells on cancer patient blood samples. We will require a maximum of 3000 blood sample draws from healthy normal volunteers. The blood samples will be effectively anonymised and the research team will not have access to personal information. All personal data will be kept confidential and unlinked to the project. The blood, cells, DNA and RNA will only be used for the present study. The project is expected to last 3 years.

  • REC name

    East of England - Cambridge South Research Ethics Committee

  • REC reference

    16/EE/0121

  • Date of REC Opinion

    12 Apr 2016

  • REC opinion

    Further Information Favourable Opinion