Case Comprehensive Cancer Center Unveils State-of-the-Art Technology For Solid Tumor Research

Main Category: Cancer / Oncology
Article Date: 02 May 2007 - 14:00 PDT

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A new suite of core facility services is now available at the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center. The Center, a consortium of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, University Hospitals Case Medical Center and the Cleveland Clinic, is a comprehensive cancer center designated by the National Cancer Center Institute.

The new services which focus on small samples, will leverage the powers of Laser Capture Micro-dissection [LCM] and gene expression profiling, and bring them to bear on diverse aspects of biomedical research with particular suitability for solid tumor cancer research. Under the leadership of Patrick Leahy, Ph.D., Scientific Managing Director of Expression Services at the Gene Expression and Genotyping Facility, the new suite of services hopes to bridge the gap between the two state-of-the-art technologies.

In the human body, genes are expressed under certain conditions or to perform specific functions. A decade ago, the practical realities were such that a biomedical researcher could only ask how a small number of genes were expressed. In 2000, the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center opened a micro-array facility enabling researchers to process biological tissues and inquire as to the level of expression of all 27,000 genes in that person's tissue.

"Now we can get a God's eye view into what is going on in the cell or tissues," said Leahy. "For example, micro-arrays might tell an investigator that carbohydrate metabolism is turned up, or the inflammation response is muted, or hormone receptors are particularly active, greatly broadening the investigative value of a single sample," he added.

"A recurring problem that exists when a biomedical researcher or clinician takes a biopsy is that the collected tissue is often a mass of diverse cell types - some good, some bad and some bystanders. Sometimes the bad cells you'd like to study constitute only 20% of the biopsied material and it is nearly impossible to separate them out. Processing such a tissue with our micro-array technology would return a near-useless mixed message from a mixed population of cells," said Leahy.

Laser Capture Micro-dissection solves the mixed message issue beautifully. With this technology, tumor biopsy tissue can be embedded in a resin and cut into slices the thickness of a single cell. The slices are placed on a glass microscope slide, stained with special dye and viewed under a microscope at high magnification. Using the infrared and ultra violet laser features of its newly acquired Arcturus "Veritas" LCM system, Dr. Leahy's group can accurately cut and capture the malignant cells and isolate them from other cell types on the slide - thus producing a pure population of malignant cells for further processing and study.

Other obstacles had to be addressed-- the isolated pure cell populations tend to be miniscule in terms of biomass; Leahy's group will employ high-sensitivity enzymatic methods to process these tiny samples for microarray. "With the new service, as little as one millionth of a gram of tissue may be coaxed into revealing its gene expression profile. Until now, these services have not been available anywhere in Cleveland," Leahy said.

Balazs Halmos, M.D., is an Assistant Professor of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and physician at University Hospitals Case Medical Center whose research will benefit greatly by the development of these new services. "We successfully use this service almost every day. The technology itself is fascinating; one could say 'space-age'. I'm confident that it will take us to the next level in our research and help identify rogue genes that make cancer cells go awry. As a result, we'll develop more effective targeted treatments devoid of the side effects of our current chemotherapy drugs," says Halmos.

About Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

Founded in 1843, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine is the largest medical research institution in Ohio and 12th largest among the nation's medical schools for research funding from the National Institutes of Health. Eleven Nobel Laureates have been affiliated with the school.

The School of Medicine is recognized throughout the international medical community for outstanding achievements in teaching and in 2002, became the third medical school in history to receive a pre-eminent review from the national body responsible for accrediting the nation's academic medical institutions. The School's innovative and pioneering Western Reserve2 curriculum interweaves four themes--research and scholarship, clinical mastery, leadership, and civic professionalism--to prepare students for the practice of evidence-based medicine in the rapidly changing health care environment of the 21st century.

Annually, the School of Medicine trains more than 600 M.D. and M.D./Ph.D. students and ranks in the top 25 among U.S. research-oriented medical schools as designated by U.S. News and World Report Guide to Graduate Education.

The School of Medicine's primary clinical affiliate is University Hospitals Case Medical Center and is additionally affiliated with MetroHealth Medical Center, the Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, with which it established the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University in 2002.

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