R01CA260399

Ovarian cancer detection with blood- and imaging-based biomarkers - A central problem in ovarian cancer is late diagnosis, which causes the 5-year survival rate to plummet below 50%.

Ovarian cancer symptoms are vague and nonspecific, and current screening is generally not effective. Because ovarian cancer is so deadly, risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy (RRSO) is often recommended for women at high risk; however, RRSO has fertility and health consequences.

It is now believed that ovarian high-grade serous carcinoma (HGSC) may begin in the fallopian tubes (FTs) as serous tubal intraepithelial carcinoma (STIC), and that precancerous changes are detectable before metastasis to the ovary and peritoneal cavity occurs.

Our preliminary data indicate that there are significant changes in serum protein biomarkers in HGSC cases 12-84 months prior to diagnosis. Further, we have also shown that changes occur in multispectral fluorescence image markers of normal and cancerous ovaries and FTs, and that we can build a thin falloposcope suitable for traversing the uterus and FT for imaging and cell collection.

We will address the unmet clinical need for a minimally invasive test for STIC and early (stage I/II) ovarian cancer. Currently, no methods enable the detection of ovarian HGSC with a lead time of more than 12 months.

Overall, our work will meet the need to detect aggressive cancers at the earliest possible stage. Our initial target population is women at high risk for ovarian cancer who wish to delay or avoid RRSO. We will combine blood screening for protein markers with a minimally invasive falloposcopy for optical imaging and FT cell collection.

Our procedure will be tested in a study of women at high risk undergoing bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy with hysterectomy, which will enable us to obtain and compare test results to gold standard histology.

The specific aims are to:

1) Develop and validate biomarkers that detect STIC and early epithelial ovarian cancer. We will improve upon our existing cut-off based algorithm with newly-discovered markers as well develop a velocity-based biomarker algorithm. The algorithm that detects disease 12-84 months prior to diagnosis will be confirmed in an independent, blinded set of clinical blood samples.

2) Develop endoscopic imaging and pathomics markers. We will improve our prototype falloposcope system with higher resolution multispectral imaging and improved cell collection ability. We will develop imaging and karyometric markers from the FT images and the cells collected, and perform a pilot in vivo study.

3) Develop an actionable clinical strategy for early detection of epithelial ovarian cancer. A study will be performed in women at high risk who are planning a RRSO. Those who test positive from our blood test developed in specific aim 1 will have their tissue undergo a falloposcopy. Imaging and pathomics data will be used to develop a classifier, which will be compared to gold standard histology findings of normal FT, STIC, or occult HGSC.

University Of Arizona

TO IMPROVE SCREENING AND EARLY DETECTION STRATEGIES AND TO DEVELOP ACCURATE DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES AND METHODS FOR PREDICTING THE COURSE OF DISEASE IN CANCER PATIENTS. SCREENING AND EARLY DETECTION RESEARCH INCLUDES DEVELOPMENT OF STRATEGIES TO DECREASE CANCER MORTALITY BY FINDING TUMORS EARLY WHEN THEY ARE MORE AMENABLE TO TREATMENT. DIAGNOSIS RESEARCH FOCUSES ON METHODS TO DETERMINE THE PRESENCE OF A SPECIFIC TYPE OF CANCER, TO PREDICT ITS COURSE AND RESPONSE TO THERAPY, BOTH A PARTICULAR THERAPY OR A CLASS OF AGENTS, AND TO MONITOR THE EFFECT OF THE THERAPY AND THE APPEARANCE OF DISEASE RECURRENCE. THESE METHODS INCLUDE DIAGNOSTIC IMAGING AND DIRECT ANALYSES OF SPECIMENS FROM TUMOR OR OTHER TISSUES. SUPPORT IS ALSO PROVIDED FOR ESTABLISHING AND MAINTAINING RESOURCES OF HUMAN TISSUE TO FACILITATE RESEARCH. SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH (SBIR) PROGRAM: TO EXPAND AND IMPROVE THE SBIR PROGRAM, TO INCREASE PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, TO INCREASE SMALL BUSINESS PARTICIPATION IN FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AND TO FOSTER AND ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION. SMALL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER (STTR) PROGRAM: TO STIMULATE AND FOSTER SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION THROUGH COOPERATIVE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CARRIED OUT BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, TO FOSTER TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, TO INCREASE PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AND TO FOSTER AND ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION.

93.394 - Cancer Detection and Diagnosis Research

National Cancer Institute (NCI) [HHS - NIH]

Arizona United States

State-Wide

Imaging, Biomarkers and Digital Pathomics for the Early Detection of Premetastatic Aggressive Cancer (R01 Clinical Trial Optional) (PAR-19-264)

Amendment Since initial award the total obligations have increased 293% from $811,877 to $3,193,113.