Enabling UV Analysis of Circulating Tumour Cells

我们迫切需要及早发现癌症和其他疾病。早期检测通过允许更早和更有效的治疗选择而导致更低的成本、更好的生存和更高的患者生活质量。Astrimmune用一种先进的过滤器产品来应对这一挑战，该产品可以从液体活检（如血液和尿液）中分离循环肿瘤细胞和其他罕见细胞。一个具有成本效益的，非侵入性的一般人群癌症或其他疾病筛查是一个非常值得的目标，将节省资金和延长生命。我们开始监测已经患有癌症的人，然后再尝试一般筛查。我们在对过滤器上回收的细胞进行荧光显微镜检查时遇到了过滤器自发荧光的问题。自发荧光是当结构吸收光时由结构自然发射的光。美国纸币的自发荧光被用来识别假币。这项Innovate UK资助旨在开发替代染料，以识别我们的过滤器上捕获的癌细胞和其他罕见细胞。我们目前最先进的一次性过滤器上级竞争对手的过滤器设计，比目前使用的昂贵工艺更具成本效益。我们的目标是最终找到一种廉价的方法，定期对整个人口进行筛查，以便更快地发现健康问题。越早发现这些问题，就越有可能获得长寿和健康的生活。解决自体荧光问题将是一项重大成就，可以立即帮助研究人员，患者和护理提供者。

We urgently need earlier detection of cancer and other diseases. Earlier detection leads to lower costs, better survival and higher quality of patient life by allowing earlier and more effective treatment options. Astrimmune responded to this challenge with an advanced filter product that allows the isolation of circulating tumour cells and other rare cells, from liquid biopsies, like blood and urine. A cost effective, non-invasive general population screening for cancer or other diseases is a very worthy goal that will save money and extend lives. We started out monitoring people that already had cancer before attempting general screening. We encountered a problem with autofluorescence of the filter while conducting fluorescent microscopy of cells retrieved on the filter. Autofluorescence is the natural emission of light by structures when they have absorbed light. Autofluorescence from U.S. paper money is used to identify counterfeit money. This Innovate UK grant is to develop alternative dyes for the purpose of identifying cancer cells and other rare cells of interest that are captured on our filter. Our current state-of-the-art disposable filter is superior to competitor filter designs and is more cost-effective than expensive processes currently being used. Our goal is to eventually have an inexpensive way to screen the whole population, on a regular basis, to identify health problems sooner. The earlier the problems are identified, the better the chances of a long and healthy life. Solving the autofluorescence problem will be a big achievement, immediately helping researchers, patients and providers of care.