Picture this: a lump is found in your kidney during a routine ultrasound scan. The doctors are unable to tell you if the lump is cancerous or not. Your options are to wait and see, potentially delaying treatment which could save your life, or to have your kidney surgically removed, leading to long recovery times and potential life-long complications.
This is the reality that over 13,000 people in the UK face every year. Currently, there is no reliable, non-invasive method of determining if a small lump in your kidney, also known as a tumour, is cancerous.
My PhD aims to test tissue samples from kidney tumours and diagnose them as cancerous or benign. Patient tissue samples will be taken by a safe and routine medical procedure, known as fine needle aspiration, which uses a needle to take a small tissue sample from the tumour. This method only collects a small number of cells, meaning the tissue sample can’t be used for current diagnostic techniques. However, my PhD aims to develop a novel diagnostic method that requires a much smaller number of cells to test tissue for cancer.
Tissue testing will be done using tiny magnets, known as magnetic nanostructures, made by Semarion. Each magnetic nanostructure is the same size as the width of a human hair and has a unique label on them. Patient tumour samples will be attached to the magnetic nanostructures and tested for typical cancer biomarkers. As each magnetic nanostructure is labelled, samples from lots of different patients can be tested together, saving time and resources. The results can then be correlated back to the individual patients.
Over the course of my PhD, I will develop methods to reliably attach patient tissue samples on the magnetic nanostructures. Once the method of attachment is established, I will test tissue samples for common signals released by cancerous tissue. Once cancerous tumours have been identified, they will be exposed to a variety of common cancer drugs and the cell response measured. This will help to verify the use of magnetic nanostructures in a clinical setting.
This project aims to improve detection and treatment of kidney cancer by testing patient tissue samples for cancer and testing various drugs on them. It is hoped that this method will enable patients and doctors to make a more informed decision, earlier, and with less trauma to the patient. This diagnostic method will be more resource efficient than over-treatment and will help patients find the best treatment route.
NanoDTC PhD Student, c2021