Cloned tumors
Doctors have come up with a 3D-printed device for cloning cancer cells
Andrey Kyummel, news3dtoday based on materials 3ders.org : 3D printed tumor-cloning device could lead to more effective cancer treatments
Two students from the University of North Dakota have come up with a system for cloning tumors that will help select drugs for the individual treatment of cancer patients.
The system consists of a water pump taken from an aquarium, cell cultures purchased from an online store, and a 3D-printed capsule ordered from the UPS service. It sounds funny, but she has already received two university awards and has all the makings to turn into an inexpensive and effective way to fight cancer.
Graduates Prajakta Kulkarni and Matthew Confeld started working on the Opti-M3D project last summer. Then they set a goal to find an effective method of cancer treatment. Today, if a patient is diagnosed with a terrible diagnosis, he is prescribed a bunch of medications, based on clinical studies of patients with similar cases. However, cancer cells are very different from each other, and it is impossible to say in advance whether these drugs will help this particular patient.
There is another problem. Prescribed medications can be not only ineffective, but also dangerous due to various side effects, for example, they can cause hair loss, nausea, vomiting, problems with red and white blood cells, etc. "The less medications a patient takes, the better for him," says Confeld.
Kulkarni and Confeld proposed cloning three-dimensional tumors from cancer cells of patients, and then testing the effect of different drugs on them. This approach will save the patient valuable time and money, as well as protect them from physical ailments. "Instead of treating the patient by trial and error, we need to try to destroy the tumor in the laboratory," Kulkarni believes.
The essence of the Opti-M3D project is to grow a tumor in a biodegradable 3D-printed capsule. Cancer cells are placed in the capsule, and then it is connected to containers with a "nutrient medium for growing cell culture." This medium is passed through the capsule using a pump, thereby simulating blood circulation in the human body and encouraging cells to grow.
The students did not have their own 3D printer, so they turned to UPS, a service offering 3D printing services, which produced a capsule for them. The pump was removed from an ordinary aquarium. And what about cancer cells? They bought them online (from a trusted supplier, of course).
The students not only managed to successfully clone cancer cells, but also grow four tumors at the same time. This means that it is possible to pick up an effective medicine for the patient four times faster and not force him to undergo various kinds of painful procedures.
According to Kulkarni and Confeld's calculations, it takes no more than 15-20 days to study a patient's cancerous tumor. They also suggest using cloned tumors in order to find out whether the patient's cancer cells have resistance to any drugs.
At the end, it is worth mentioning significant cost savings. A monthly course of treatment often costs $ 10000-20000. Obviously, it is much cheaper to experiment with cancer cells in the laboratory than to force the patient to undergo a full course of pills and injections.
Kulkarni and Confeld presented Opti-M3D at the University of North Dakota Innovation Competition. They received a prize for first place, as well as an audience award worth $ 5,000 and $1,000, respectively. Perhaps with this money they will buy their own 3D printer.
Now the curator of the project and professor of the Faculty of Pharmacy Sanku Mallik is helping the guys to get a patent through the university's technology commercialization office. I would like to believe that in the future the Opti-M3D cancer cell cloning device has a chance to interest hospitals and cancer therapy research centers and open new ways of treating this terrible disease.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru
28.04.2016