Optoacoustic Technology for Early Cancer Detection

“The goal of the Phase II breast cancer research is to determine whether the optimized imaging system will enable in vivo imaging of early in situ breast tumors in animals with excellent sensitivity,” said Alexander A. Oraevsky, PhD, Fairway’s Vice President of R&D and the Principal Investigator. “If we can establish its capability to visualize tumors in mice down to 2 to 5 millimeters in diameter with high molecular specificity and insignificant nanoparticle accumulation in normal tissue, we believe this technology will be at the doorway to commercial development through clinical trials,” he added.

“Our research under this grant will go a long way toward determining whether the gold nanorods will be beneficial in tagging the tumors in reducing breast cancer mortality by providing sensitive, inexpensive, convenient and safe molecular-specific technology for cancer therapy,” said Fairway president Jim Meador.

Importance of Early Detection

“Because detection and follow-up in the early stages of breast cancer offers a much greater chance of survival, even small improvements in breast cancer diagnosis and treatment may save tens of thousands of lives every year,” Meador said. Nearly 600,000 new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed worldwide each year, about 216,000 in the U.S. where almost 40,000 deaths will result. More than 10% of all American women develop breast cancer during their lifetimes.

Small early tumors confined to the breast can be cured with close to 100% success. Improvement in the breast cancer survival rate today compared with that of 25 year ago is attributed mainly to the fact that today breast tumors are being detected earlier. However, only 25% of malignant breast tumors are detected at the stage when the tumor is 10 mm or less. Fairway believes the technology may help to detect tumors earlier, so that the percentage of tumors detected before they spread into the blood and lymph systems will increase, resulting in a greater survival rate.

Prostate Cancer Detection

The new prostate cancer grant follows work performed under a 2005 Phase I grant to define the technical requirements for and to develop a laboratory prototype for a transrectal probe containing both an optical illumination system and an array of wide-band ultrasonic transducers. The Phase II grant will include studies in the canine model of prostate cancer performed in collaboration with the University of Teas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas.

“Prostate cancer strikes one in six men in America,” Meador noted. “It is a disease that is nearly 100 percent treatable, if its detection is early. Even small improvements in early detection can save thousands of lives,” he said.

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