I-Corps: Early-stage cancer diagnostic platform using cell-free expression systems and liposomal nanotechnology

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of an early-stage cancer diagnostic to improve detection of cancer. In the US, 1.9 million people are diagnosed with cancer annually, with an average of 609,000 deaths. Currently, the healthcare reimbursement system mostly relies on patients presenting symptoms, except for cancers of the breast or colon where there is proactive screening. However, detecting cancer early is critical to improving quality of life, decreasing patient morbidity, and reducing healthcare costs but available blood tests and imaging methods are not specific enough to elucidate most early cancer occurrences. The proposed technology is a blood-based cancer diagnostic that may be administered to patients during annual checkups as well as to enhance imaging tests for cancer. It uses an array of antibodies conjugated to liposomes, a tiny bubble made from cell membrane-like materials, enabling them to bind to cancer cells with high specificity. By detecting cancers earlier with the proposed liposomal-antibody technology, there is the potential to improve patients’ quality of life, decrease patient morbidity, and reduce costs related to healthcare.This I-Corps project is based on the development of cancer screening technology for the detection of early-stage cancers. The proposed technology is a liposomal-antibody platform envisioned as for imaging assistance that may be given to patients before magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography (PET) or computed tomography (CT) scans similar to the way general MRI contrast dye or tracers are administered to patients currently. The liposomes are designed to have antibodies attached to the outer membrane that will enable them to congregate around tumor cells and will encapsulate imaging dyes to assist radiologists in detecting cancerous growth. In addition, the proposed blood-based detection system may be administered to patients during annual checkups. An array of engineered antibodies may be embedded into liposomes enabling them to bind to diseased cells with high specificity and avoid attachment to healthy cells. The liposomes are designed to contain cell-free expression systems for multiple, unique peptides that encode signaling molecules. This combination may enable screening for many different cancers at the microscopic level and monitoring their growth over time. The proposed technology also may be used to monitor and quantify treatment efficacy.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.