Improved detection and treatment of cancer using magnetic nanostructures

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This project aims to improve the diagnosis and prognosis of kidney cancer (Renal Cell Carcinoma - RCC). RCC affects 13,000 people per year in the UK and is challenging because there is no diagnostic test. A particular problem is overtreatment: many tumours are found to be benign when operated on. This problem arises because of the difficulty in obtaining reliable biopsy data from tumours prior to surgery. Core Biopsy (CB) is one surgical method but carries risks of dangerous side effects and does not always yield reliable data. This project seeks to investigate whether the surgically less invasive technique of Fine Needle Aspirate (FNA) could be used for more accurate diagnosis and prognosis of kidney cancer. FNA uses a needle to extract a small number of cells from a tumour. We propose to combine FNA with a new, high sensitivity assay technique based on barcoded nanomagnetic heterostructures made using lithography methods from the microelectronics industry - high sensitivity is needed because of the relatively small number of cells which can be harvested through a needle. It is predicted that development and uptake of an accurate, minimally invasive FNA diagnostic approach would save ~800 patients per year having unnecessary surgery for benign tumours.