Known as a Phenotype Analyzer Chip, the diagnostic device can detect minute biological particles in a patient’s bloodstream, providing clues as to how glioblastoma is responding to treatment. It works by testing small samples of blood and identifying messenger cells known as extracellular vesicles that originate from glioblastoma tumour tissue. Developed at the University of Queensland (UQ), the new technology is described in Science Advances.
“These particles cross the blood brain barrier laden with information on the disease, and with our hypersensitive device we can pick them up and interrogate them,” said Dr Zhen Zhang, a researcher at UQ’s Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN).
“It’s a completely new and non-invasive way of getting information on the brain.”
Until now, performing a biopsy was the only way to track glioblastoma before it reached its latter stages, at which point MRI scans can also be used. The Phenotype Analyzer Chip offers a completely new methodology to track the disease, which is the most common and aggressive form of brain cancer.
“There has been very little success so far in clinical trials for new and experimental glioblastoma treatments,” said Dr Richard Lobb, who helped develop the device alongside Zhang in the laboratory of ARC Laureate Professor Matt Trau.
“That’s partly because there is no way to tell if a therapy is working precisely as it should at that moment without drilling into someone’s head.”
The device was validated in more than 40 brain cancer patients, with the Trau lab now seeking to initiate clinical trials. According to Lobb, the technology also has potential for tracking and treating neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Motor Neurone Disease (MND), and depression.
“In previous work we’ve shown it is possible to assess the impact of neuroinflammation triggered by traumatic brain injuries by reading brain-specific biomarkers,” he said.
“If we can capture and analyse the right extracellular vesicles in a patient’s blood, we can get new information about the onset and mechanism of progression of a wide range of brain diseases.
“Glioblastoma really is just the beginning for this technology.”