Cancer diagnostic metastasis prediction

Cline has been involved in cancer research for several years through collaborations with researchers and Liv Diagnostics. After acquiring Liv Diagnostics, the development of a unique product to measure the migration behavior of living cells in cancer tumors continues at an accelerated pace. Migration behavior data gives an indication of how invasive the disease is in each specific case. This data is of major importance since 90% of all deaths related to breast cancer is due to the cancer spreading.

The initial product development has been focused on developing a prototype for the diagnosis of migration prone breast cancer cells. Our promising initial results show that we can differentiate the behavioral patterns between aggressive breast cancer cells. Cline is initially focusing specifically on breast cancer, but the technology has the potential to be implemented for other types of cancer at a later stage.

Background

The behavior of living cells is not currently explored in cancer diagnostics, even though cell migration is a prerequisite for metastasis that ultimately leads to fatalities. Cline’s diagnostics tool can fill this missing gap by quantifying cell migration and through that provide valuable diagnostic information. Greater accuracy in assessing whether a tumor will metastasize or not can play a crucial role in the choice of treatment of an affected patient. CellRACE has the potential to become an invaluable tool in the field of oncology.

The basic idea

CelRACE is different from other diagnostics methods in that it’s based on quantification of cell migration: a physical feature shared by all invasive tumors. CellRACE measures tumor invasiveness and through that the risk of metastasis can be evaluated. In cases where it’s difficult to determine the risk of tumor migration in breast cancer it’s likely that extensive treatment will be performed with aggressive chemotherapy and mastectomy. In cases where the diagnosis interprets a malignant tumor as benign the patient is at risk of delays in necessary treatment. In this case there will be a risk of the tumor metastasizing as a result which can lead to a fatal outcome. Problems such as over- and under treatment can be avoided with increased insight into the course of the disease, with the information provided by CellRACE.

The product

CellRACE is a diagnostic test that initially will be used for diagnostics and follow-up of breast cancer. However, the technology can potentially be used for other types of metastasizing cancers. A number of tests can be performed for each patient during the therapeutic phase of the disease. This means that the CellRACE test should be used when biopsies are taken after the primary tumor has been discovered. CellRACE is a “lab-on-chip” product, which means that living cells from a biopsy can be analyzed. The information that CellRACE can provide is crucial in several stages of the treatment process.