Liquid prostate biopsy
Scientists of Sechenov University will make a biopsy of prostate cancer liquid?
The Institute of Urology and Human Reproductive Health together with the Institute of Molecular Medicine are conducting a study of a new method for diagnosing prostate cancer – liquid biopsy.
Today, the standard diagnostic method remains the classic method and its modifications with an efficiency of up to 80%. Tissue samples are taken from different parts of the prostate through punctures in the rectum or perineum, after which they are examined under a microscope. However, despite the relatively high efficiency, invasiveness and the risk of complications do not allow even the most modern variations to be considered an ideal method.
The alternative is to detect tumor cells in various biological fluids. The technology is being developed by many research centers, but insufficient accuracy and the high cost of existing solutions prevent it from going beyond the walls of laboratories. Perhaps, the staff of the Department of Biomedical Engineering of Sechenov University under the guidance of a professor will be able to reverse the situation Andrey Zvyagin.
This study by the famous French scientist and professor of Sechenov University Jean Paul Thierry was supported by the most prestigious megagrant of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation.
The proposed innovation is based on the use of microchips – a polymer micro-spiral through which the seminal fluid provided by the patient is driven under pressure. A special spiral device helps to sort cancer and normal cells by changes in their structure and mass. Microchips are quite inexpensive, but they can detect even single tumor cells with an accuracy comparable and even higher than that of a classical biopsy.
If successful, the technique will complement the diagnosis using PSA, the weak point of which remains a false positive result reaching 80%. The analysis of biological fluids will help to avoid unnecessary biopsies and the difficulties associated with them – PSA often increases in diseases not related to the cancer process, for example, in cases of adenoma or inflammation.
Currently, the first stage has been launched on the basis of the Institute of Urology and Reproductive Man: studies of seminal fluid of patients with prostate cancer. "She is in direct contact with the focus of the disease and the probability of detecting tumor cells in her is maximum," says Dmitry Enikeev, Deputy director of the Institute for Science. "The second stage includes a study of patients without the disease to assess the frequency of false positive results." Later we will evaluate the number of tumor cells in other biological fluids – blood and urine," he said. Enikeev.
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