As of January of this year, cervical cancer kills an estimated 4,320 American women annually, while 13,360 receive an invasive diagnosis. In many cases, women are unaware that they can develop cervical cancer as they age. To reduce these numbers, dedicated researchers at Stony Brook University are developing complex devices to improve testing for the presence and progression of the disease.
Stony Brook scientists are working to develop technological tests that will accurately measure cervical cancer risk factor levels. Inspiration for this research has been drawn from the unpredictability of HPV tests. A positive HPV test indicates the likelihood of developing cervical cancer in the next five years, but it is not a guarantee. This project aims to provide assurance to guarantee if someone is high-risk or low-risk for a diagnosis.
Dr. Eric Brouzes, an associate professor of the Biomedical Engineering Department, leads the research team behind these testing devices. He mentioned specifically the assay, a physical test to measure the amount of a substance. When explaining the motivation behind developing these testing devices, he said, “There are a lot of people who do not have access to healthcare for many different reasons. The idea is to bring the assay to them.”
“There are not a lot of projects where you can feel, if successful, like you have a direct impact on people’s lives,” he continued.
In the early stages of this project, Brouzes emphasized the importance of predicting the degree to which cancer is present. To address this issue directly, his team is working on developing a new molecular device.
“There is a biomarker that correlates with the progression of the cancer,” Brouzes said. “When the cervical cancer progresses, that biomarker concentration increases.”
According to Brouzes, biomarker diagnostics can determine the exact type of cancer a person has developed, the needed treatments for a particular diagnosis and the monitorization of the progression of the cancer — either worsening or improving.
Brouzes categorized the design of these devices as microfluidic systems and explained the importance of their plastic composition.
“It’s cheap to manufacture and that’s something we couldn’t do before,” he said. Microfluidic systems study the behavior of fluids through microchannels. Microfluidic chip devices allow biological samples of DNA and blood to be analyzed. These devices contain micro chambers and tunnels where fluid flow is confined.
Cost efficiency is a major aspect of this project, as Brouzes believes funding is the most challenging part of it.
“Biomarkers follow the progression of the disease,” he said. “But if you don’t have the tools to measure that on a large scale, then these are small scale studies. You need to develop the assay and the device at low cost, so you can do a larger scale study.”
To help fund this project, the Prevent Cancer Foundation has provided a grant of $50,000 per year for two years highlighting the significance behind the research. Brouzes dove into what this meant for him and the further development of these technologies.
“It provides us with an opportunity to get started and bring our project to a level that now will be competitive for federal funding,” Brouzes said. “You need to convince people that it’s a good investment. You’re dealing with taxpayer money, as well, so you don’t want to waste it. We now have enough money to generate data to prove that it’s feasible.”
While the project is still in early development, Brouzes explained that the most enjoyable aspect of his role is “being able to design a system that behaves the way you want, that could be done in film plastic. What is really exciting is all the molecular biology — looking at how we’re going to design the assay through the state of the art of molecular biology.”
Brouzes also shared that part of the process in developing this research stemmed from a totally different project.
“There was some kind of weakness [in the previous project], but we can use that to create something else,” he said. “That’s what I like about it.”
Brouzes estimated that these devices will take approximately 10 years to fully develop. He mentioned how testing would need to be done on volunteers and they would need to receive feedback on the effectiveness of the device.
When discussing the most important outcome these devices have the potential to present, Brouzes said, “cervical cancer is very important, but there are other diseases that you could diagnose with this approach as well. But [it will] make a difference in people’s lives — that would be amazing.”
