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

I-Corps项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是开发早期癌症诊断，以改善癌症检测。在美国，每年有190万人被诊断患有癌症，平均609，000人死亡。目前，医疗保健报销制度主要依赖于患者的症状，除了乳腺癌或结肠癌，那里有积极的筛查。然而，早期检测癌症对于改善生活质量、降低患者发病率和降低医疗成本至关重要，但现有的血液检查和成像方法不足以阐明大多数早期癌症的发生。 这项技术是一种基于血液的癌症诊断，可以在年度检查期间对患者进行管理，并增强癌症的成像测试。它使用了一系列与脂质体结合的抗体，脂质体是一种由细胞膜样材料制成的微小气泡，使它们能够高度特异性地与癌细胞结合。通过脂质体-抗体技术的早期检测，可以提高患者的生活质量，降低患者的发病率，降低医疗费用。I-Corps的课题是开发用于早期癌症检测的癌症筛查技术。 所提出的技术是一种脂质体-抗体平台，其被设想用于成像辅助，可以在磁共振成像（MRI）、正电子发射断层扫描（PET）或计算机断层扫描（CT）扫描之前给予患者，类似于目前给予患者的一般MRI造影剂或示踪剂的方式。 脂质体被设计成具有附着在外膜上的抗体，这将使它们能够聚集在肿瘤细胞周围，并将封装成像染料，以帮助放射科医生检测癌症生长。 此外，所提出的基于血液的检测系统可以在年度检查期间对患者进行管理。一系列工程抗体可以嵌入脂质体中，使它们能够以高特异性结合患病细胞，并避免附着于健康细胞。脂质体被设计成含有编码信号分子的多种独特肽的无细胞表达系统。 这种组合可以在微观水平上筛查许多不同的癌症，并监测它们随时间的生长。 该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

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.