Ovarian Cancer

Ovarian cancer is a deadly, hard-to-detect condition and oncologists are waiting for better diagnostics tests and new strategies for monitoring chemotherapy.

In collaboration with our medical partners, we have developed a magnetic bead-based assay that capture isolated Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) enabling early and accurate diagnosis of Ovarian Cancer.

Our team has designed and validated a biomarker that allows early diagnosis. 

By using Aurosphere® magnetic beads, we demonstrated that biomarker’s positive CTCs cells: 

-enable rapid isolation and culture of CTCs. 

-are a source of primary cells for the identification of the most effective chemotherapies, which can be done through tradition cell culture methods or genetic-proteomic analysis. 

-can help distinguishing malignant from benign pelvic masses. 

-can help to monitor a cancer’s response to a chemotherapy and detecting disease recurrence. 

 

Illustration of the Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) isolation workflow from liquid biopsy obtained from cancer patient: 

1.Sample and Wash: Blood for a liquid biopsy is drawn from patient and the cells are separated by centrifugation and resuspended in a reaction buffer. 

2.Mix/Bind: Streptavidin Aurosphere® beads coated with suitable antibodies bind to the desired CTCs expressing antigen. 

3.Wash: Following appropriate incubation period, use our magnetic separators to capture the cells. 

4.Elute: Release the bound target CTCs from the streptavidin Aurosphere®  beads with excess biotin 

Isolated CTCs can be propagated and/or assessed in-vitro to enable precision cancer treatment for patients.