King’s College London researchers say they have developed a game-changing new method of identifying treatment-resistant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). They have had success testing it in animal studies and say it could be applicable for treating other cancers too.
By injecting what we can presume are rodents with a radiotracer substance, aggressive cancer cells in their chest “lit up like a Christmas tree” on positron emission tomography (PET) scans. They say that it can distinguish whether or not chemotherapy will be an effective treatment measure, thereby making the therapy selection process much easier.
It does so by identifying a “xCT” protein present in tumours that are difficult to treat. The investigators successfully got the cancer cells containing this protein to light up brighter than the others on the scans with the new technique. King’s College London has been working on this for about five years.
“Currently, there is no quick and early method that shows whether malignant tumours are resistant to treatment,” lead researcher and molecular imaging professor, Tim Whitney, explained in a news release from the institution. He emphasized that time is a limited commodity for lung cancer patients and that they don’t have enough of it to wait and see if chemotherapy will be impactful. Not to mention its toxic side effects.
“We wanted to increase the window of opportunity for treatment for these patients – giving them more choice and a better chance of survival.”
The scholars published a paper on the new technique in Nature Communications on Tuesday. They will commence a Phase I in-human study in London early next year with 35 participants.
“Resistance to therapy is one of the biggest problems in clinical oncology,” the British and American authors said in the study.
Scan of what appears to be a rat. Aggressive cells containing the protein glow brighter. Image credit: King’s College London
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Making cells with aggressive protein light up more brightly is the accomplishment
Using radiotracers to help identify cancer with PET scans is nothing new.
Johns Hopkins Medicine, Mayo Clinic, the National Institutes of Health, the University of California San Francisco and others have been experimenting with this imaging method for a broad range of cancers in the disease group.
King’s College London is the first to use the scanning method to pinpoint that specific protein’s presence in more aggressive lung cancer cells and get them to glow brighter on scans. The University of Pennsylvania and other institutions have investigated the xCT protein in varying cancer biology studies, but not in this specific manner.
Certain companies have used injectable substances to pinpoint cancer during surgery too. On Target Laboratories, founded by University of Indiana researcher Philip Low, manufactures Cytalux: a glowing agent used to light up lung cancer cells with infrared light during tumour removal procedures.
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