NEWS

Use of a new fluid biopsy technique may help identify patients at high risk for MI, researchers reported.

The Scripps Research Institute has invented an experimental way to spot and analyze cells that break away from solid tumors, possibly giving doctors a faster and better way to treat a variety of cancers.

San Diego-based biotech firm Epic Sciences announced Tuesday that the company has raised $13 million to pursue its molecular diagnostics technology that can better detect and monitor cancer as well as enable personalize cancer treatment.

Worrying whether a solid tissue tumor might spread elsewhere in the body represents one of the biggest unknowns for many cancer patients, according to Peter Kuhn, an associate professor of cell biology at The Scripps Research Institute in San Diego.

Through direct research funding and data sharing, the Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) funding has advanced the field of Circulating Tumor Cell (CTC) technology, which may soon deliver new gold standards for prostate cancer diagnostics and biomarkers.

Journal References : Jorge Nieva, MarcoWendel, Madelyn Luttgen, Dena Marrinucci, Lyudmila Bazhenova, Anand Kolatkar, Roger Santala, BrockWhittenberger, James Burke, Melissa Torrey, Kelly Bethel, and Peter Kuhn. High-- imaging of circulating tumor cells and associated cellular events in non-small cell lung cancer patients: a longitudinal analysis. Physical Biology, Feb 3, 2012

Peter Kuhn, PhD, a professor of cell biology at Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., has called circulating tumor cells "the messenger and the message of metastasis."