Oral Cancer Screening via Spectral Cytopathology

描述（由申请人提供）：本申请是根据R21资助机制下的PA-09-238“癌症检测和诊断中的脱落细胞和循环DNA”提交的。本申请中提出的工作旨在基于光谱细胞病理学（SCP）开发口腔癌和鼻咽癌的自动筛查方法，光谱细胞病理学（SCP）是一种基于单个细胞的光谱测量与基于计算机的分析的新诊断方法。实现了通过SCP从口腔检测异常细胞的原理验证，并且发现即使在细胞发生形态变化之前也可以识别异常细胞。该提案强调了通过光谱方法进行口腔癌筛查的临床意义;此外，它将把研究扩展到头颈部（H&N）地区的其他部分，并收集足够大的数据集，以吸引其他资助机制将这项研究推向商业产品。选择口腔癌和H&N癌筛查作为目标是因为目前还没有进行这种筛查，尽管口腔癌是一个主要的健康问题，其平均5年生存率低于公众认为更常见的癌症，如霍奇金淋巴瘤，睾丸癌或恶性黑色素瘤。与所有上皮癌一样，早期检测和治疗将提高H&N癌的存活率，目前H&N癌通常在它们已经深入渗透到周围组织或已经形成转移后才被检测到。基于SCP的口腔和H&N癌症筛查可以像宫颈癌筛查一样容易进行，并将减少这种疾病的并发症和死亡率。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This Application is submitted in response to PA-09-238 "Exfoliated Cells and Circulating DNA in Cancer Detection and Diagnosis" under the R21 funding mechanism. The work proposed in this application is aimed at developing automatic screening methods for oral and nasopharyngeal cancer, based on Spectral Cytopathology (SCP) which is a new diagnostic method based on a spectroscopic measurement of individual cells coupled to computer-based analysis. Proof-of-principle for detecting abnormal cells from the oral cavity via SCP was achieved, and identification of abnormal cells was found to be possible even before morphological changes occur in the cells. This proposal emphasizes the clinical significance of oral cancer screening by spectral methods; furthermore, it will extend the study to other parts of the head-and-neck (H&N) region, and collect datasets of sufficient size to attract other funding mechanisms to take this research to a commercial product. Oral and H&N cancer screening was selected for a target because such screening is not being carried out at this point, although cancers of the oral cavity are a major health problem, with a mean 5- year survival rate less than that of cancers which are more in the public's view, such Hodgkin's lymphoma, testicular cancer, or malignant melanoma. As in all epithelial cancers, early detection and treatment will increase the survival rate from H&N cancers, which presently are detected often after they have penetrated deeply into the surrounding tissue, or have formed metastases. SCP-based oral and H&N cancer screening can be carried out as easily as cervical cancer screening, and will reduce the complications and mortality from this disease.