Can liquid biopsy technology open up new treatment methods?
May 04, 2016 Source: Bio Valley
Window._bd_share_config={ "common":{ "bdSnsKey":{ },"bdText":"","bdMini":"2","bdMiniList":false,"bdPic":"","bdStyle":" 0","bdSize":"16"},"share":{ }};with(document)0[(getElementsByTagName('head')[0]||body).appendChild(createElement('script')) .src='http://bdimg.share.baidu.com/static/api/js/share.js?v=89860593.js?cdnversion='+~(-new Date()/36e5)];The liquid biopsy was greatly concerned by clinicians in 2014 because of its non-invasiveness, accuracy, dynamics and feasibility. The 2015 CSCO meeting was even hotter. China is a country with high incidence of esophageal cancer, and the number of patients accounts for more than half of the world. Can liquid biopsy technology open up new treatment methods to diagnose results in advance?
On May 20th, the “2016 Liquid Biopsy and Clinical Application Seminar†hosted by BioValley, the guest of the conference, Professor Zhang Wei from Shantou University Medical School believes that early detection and diagnosis will greatly advance the effective treatment window and fully improve the treatment. Effects and survival rates, and liquid biopsy techniques are expected to be achieved. Professor Zhang Wei is currently the deputy director of the Oncology Branch of the Chinese Medical Bioimmunology Society, the deputy director of the Guangdong Cancer Pharmacology Society, the member of the Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology (CSCO) Pancreatic Cancer Expert Committee, and the member of the Biopharmaceutical Library Branch of the China Medical Biotechnology Association. Member of the Cancer Molecular Marking Committee of China Anti-Cancer Association, Member of the Cancer Cause Committee of China Anti-Cancer Association
This time, Bio Valley had the opportunity to interview Professor Zhang Wei, and put forward his own opinions on the significance and recent progress of exosomes in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Professor Zhang Wei made a keynote speech at the conference on the discovery and application of exosome fusion RNA: early diagnosis and dynamic monitoring of esophageal cancer by liquid biopsy.
1. You used to do endocrine-related cancer research. How do you start researching esophageal cancer now? Is esophageal cancer related to endocrine-related tumors?
Before going abroad, I worked as an endocrinologist. During my studies abroad, I mainly worked on endocrine-related tumors (breast cancer, prostate cancer, etc.) that were highly developed and focused in Western countries. Esophageal cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors of the digestive tract, accounting for the top six cancer deaths worldwide. China is a country with high incidence of esophageal cancer, the number of patients accounted for more than half of the world, the majority of esophageal cancer tissue classification in China is esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. At present, there are relatively few international studies and limited research funding. At present, there is no corresponding targeted drug for esophageal cancer, no specific diagnostic markers, and there is not even an ideal animal model for research. China has made more efforts in esophageal cancer surgery and radiation therapy, but the 5-year survival rate is only 20-40%. The Shantou area where I work is a high-risk area for coastal esophageal cancer. One of our current focuses is on esophageal cancer transformation and clinical research, hoping to solve domestic problems and serve the local.
Esophageal cancer is indeed related to endocrine, and we are doing this work. One of the characteristics of esophageal cancer is high incidence in men and a worse prognosis, but the cause and mechanism are unclear. In particular, the relationship between sex hormone receptor-related molecular pathways and gender differences in esophageal cancer has been a mystery and a concern in this field. . Our team has now found that androgen receptors play a mediating and bridge between chronic inflammation and esophageal cancer caused by lifestyle factors (smoking, alcohol, etc.), thereby promoting tumorigenesis. The mystery of our discovery from one aspect also proves the importance of environmental factors and lifestyle factors and gene interactions in the pathogenesis of cancer, providing new options for targeting and personalized prevention and intervention of esophageal cancer. .
2. Do you use a patient's plasma or saliva for a liquid biopsy? How high is the test result and actual compliance? How far is this method from clinical application?
When patients with esophageal cancer come to the hospital for treatment, they are often in the middle and late stages with obvious symptoms, and lymph node metastasis has occurred. Quite a number of patients have lost the opportunity for surgery. Early detection and diagnosis will greatly advance the window of effective treatment, and fully improve the treatment effect and survival rate. Our goal is to establish a non-invasive, anatomical-specific method for the early detection of esophageal cancer. It is used for screening and testing before or when symptoms are not present. Generally speaking, what we have established is a method and system that acts as a scout to detect hidden tumors. We have developed several methods of liquid biopsy for esophageal cancer, including plasma (clear) and saliva, where blood biopsy has been clinically tested. The currently developed exosome-related detection methods have a high degree of fitting with tumor tissue specimens, and also have good specificity and sensitivity. I hope that I can further develop and develop clinical trials and use them early in the clinic.
3. It has been reported in the literature that exosomes-mediated microRNA-21 (miR-21) secreted by esophageal cancer cells is a sensitive marker for the diagnosis of esophageal cancer. What is your discovery?
Many studies have shown that microRNAs are promising markers for tumor biopsy. miR-31 plays an important regulatory role in tumors, and it is also regulated by a variety of factors. Our team conducted high-throughput transcriptome testing of esophageal cancer exosomes, including microRNA expression profiles, and the results are currently being analyzed.
4. How do you evaluate the significance of exosomes in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer?
It is the exosomes that have many possibilities that people could not think of before, so that everyone can see the potential and hope. Exosomes provide a new choice for cancer diagnosis and treatment. In terms of tumor and treatment, current research and development mainly include tumor drug carriers and tumor vaccines. At present, the research and development are very hot, but there are also many problems and challenges. It is necessary to solve the theoretical blind spots and technical bottlenecks one by one.
In the field of tumor diagnosis, exosome-based liquid biopsy methods have shown broad clinical application prospects, including diagnosis, guidance treatment and medication, efficacy prediction, especially dynamic detection and early screening. When it comes to early screening and early diagnosis of cancer, there are concerns about whether early diagnosis and screening of the tumor will cause over-diagnosis and over-treatment, increase unnecessary mental suffering, and waste the originally strained medical resources. For some tumors with very low malignancy and slow growth (such as some thyroid tumors and some early prostate tumors), this problem does exist, and it is also a problem that medical systems must face and need to pay attention to. However, for esophageal cancer, pancreatic cancer, and some ovarian cancer, it is a late stage, high-malignant tumor with high mortality, early diagnosis and screening are important for subsequent treatment, as well as patient survival rate and quality of life. The meaning. In this regard, liquid biopsies such as exosomes are just as useful.
5. You also do research on the treatment of individual tumors. Please talk about the progress of research in this area. What role do you think liquid biopsy plays in the treatment of individual tumors?
One of the cores of personalized cancer treatment is to screen for the right patient, that is, to find individuals who are sensitive to treatment, including targeted drugs. Liquid biopsy has great potential in this area and hopefully plays a key role in future molecular diagnostics and multidisciplinary diagnosis of cancer.
Individualized diagnosis and treatment of tumors is reflected both in time and in space. Both conventional chemotherapy and targeted drugs, including currently being promoted, have secondary drug tolerance and therapeutic resistance. This requires dynamic detection of the patient's treatment response, the ability to detect and even predict the patient's subsequent treatment response, and even find problems before drug resistance occurs, in order to adjust the optimal treatment plan to maximize the role of individualized treatment. Current anatomical-based imaging techniques and endoscopic methods are not yet effective in meeting these requirements. Liquid biopsy is expected to play the role of this scout. This is also the focus of our current research.
Tuna Hamburger,Tuna Sushi,Tuna Products
Zhejiang ocean family co.,ltd , https://www.ocean-family.com