A new study was announced recently by the Anderson Cancer Center, University of Texas in collaboration with the biotechnology leadership organization’Biocept’ for investigating the ability to isolate circulating tumor cells (CTC’s) in blood.

The study will use Biocept’s “Cell Enrichment and Extraction Technology,” designed to capture rare cells from a larger heterogeneous cell population. The focus of this study is ovarian cancer.

This innovative technique applied in rare cell capture offers will enhance the opportunity to detect circulating ovarian cancer cells. Dr. Anil sood, Principal Investigator of the study team said,” the goal is to provide more powerful tools to monitor the response to treatment improve early detection and personalize prognosis for our patients.”

This study shall be focusing around three major objectives. It aims to optimize detection and isolation of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in ovarian cancer patients. It will be an attempt to quantify the levels of CTCs in patients with primary or recurrent ovarian cancer, and to compare gene profiles between CTC’s and primary tumor specimens. The findings of this study could provide valuable insights for the treatment planning and identification of novel biologic targets.

“We hope that our ability to isolate and quantify circulating tumor
Cells will improve cancer detection and treatment by giving physicians
Valuable information early in the disease course,” remarked Gordon Janko, President and CEO of Biocept.

Ovarian cancer forms in tissues of the ovary, one of a pair of female reproductive glands in which the ova, or eggs, are formed. Most ovarian cancers are either ovarian epithelial carcinoma. It is a type of cancer begins in cells on the surface of the ovary. It could also be a malignant germ cell tumor, a cancer that begins in egg cells.

According to an estimate, in the year 2007 alone the number of such cases would increase up to 22,430. It is also estimated that more than 15,280 deaths would be caused by ovarian cancer in the United States.

This article is the property of http://www.Healthpm.com
Copying and publishing any article from our site is strictly NOT allowed