A technology that can assess anticancer drug efficacy and detect cancer recurrence by flowing blood through microchannels on a chip has been developed.
Unlike existing liquid biopsy technologies that directly search for cancer cells in blood, this technology utilizes the principle that inflammatory substances from cancer tissue increase the adhesion of white blood cells on their surface. The development enables early detection of micro-recurrences that imaging tests such as MRI and CT often miss, complementing expensive liquid biopsy technologies in monitoring cancer treatment progress.
A research team led by Professor Kang Ju-heon at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) Department of Biomedical Engineering announced on the 3rd that they developed a chip-based technology capable of monitoring cancer recurrence and anticancer treatment response by analyzing changes in white blood cell adhesion in blood.
The method involves flowing blood through a chip containing intertwined microchannels thinner than human hair, then using automated software to count white blood cells attached to the channels. The technology exploits an immune response in which inflammatory substances released by cancer tissue activate "cell adhesion molecule receptors" on white blood cell surfaces. The inner walls of the channels are coated with special proteins that bind to these receptors, allowing activated white blood cells to adhere to the channel surfaces.
In experiments, white blood cells from mice with progressing breast cancer showed up to 40 times more adhesion to the chip's inner walls compared to white blood cells from healthy mice.
The developed technology can be used to immediately verify anticancer drug efficacy during treatment and monitor recurrence in real-time after surgery. When doxorubicin, a drug with proven anticancer effects, was administered, tumor growth was suppressed while white blood cell adhesion frequency decreased immediately. In contrast, when ineffective drugs were administered, high adhesion levels persisted.
Furthermore, after surgical removal of primary cancer tissue, white blood cell adhesion that had decreased was observed to rise again at the stage when micro-metastasis—undetectable by visual inspection or imaging diagnosis—began. This result demonstrates in preclinical animal models that the technology could serve as an indicator for early tracking of recurrence and metastasis potential.
Professor Kang Ju-heon explained, "This technology can capture early metastasis or recurrence that is difficult to detect through imaging diagnosis via the patient's white blood cell immune response, and can immediately confirm treatment response after anticancer drug administration. This can help reduce unnecessary treatments and select optimal therapeutics suited to individual patients."
Brian Choi, a researcher in UNIST's Department of Biomedical Engineering, participated as first author in this research, which was supported by UNIST, the National Research Foundation of Korea's Basic Research Laboratory Program, the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Cross-Ministry Regenerative Medicine Technology Development Project, and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
The research findings were published on March 1 in Biosensors and Bioelectronics, an international academic journal published by Elsevier.