This month’s issue of the online EMBO Molecular Medicine Journal reports that researchers from the Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah have discovered a rapid, precise and cost-efficient way to identify cancer-causing rearrangements of genetic material, called chromosomal translocations that occur in the tumor cells of many cancers.

Current methods for identifying cancer-causing translocations have substantial shortcomings, regardless of the fact that hundreds of these translocations have already been discovered.

The new pioneering technique combines microarray technology that is able to search for thousands of translocations in a single test, together with a novel antibody which is used to detect the presence of the translocation.

Stephen Lessnick, M.D., Ph.D. director of the Center for Children’s Cancer Research at HCI, whose lab has developed the technique remarks:

“We’re moving past the age when a pathologist looking through the microscope at a tumor sample is the best way to diagnose what type of cancer it is. The molecular tests currently available are slow, inefficient, and expensive, and one of the biggest issues is that you need high-quality tumor samples, not always available in the clinical setting, to do them.”

Lessnick states that his approach tolerates real-life specimens much better, compared with the current standard techniques.

Lessnick says:

“Originally, this method was used in HCI’s Cairns lab (headed by Bradley R. Cairns, Ph.D.) to study RNA in yeast. We took their method and applied it to our study of chromosomal translocations in human tissue.”

The next step is finding a commercial partner who develops this research from a ‘proof of principle’ into a diagnostic test for the medical profession.

He continues:

“With this method, there’s potential to develop a single array that could test for every known cancer-causing translocation simultaneously. Currently, a clinician has to decide beforehand which specific cancer to test.”

As a case study for developing the method, the researchers used a rare childhood cancer, called Ewing’s sarcoma. However, according to Lessnick, the technology can be easily applied to any cancer types that are caused by a translocation.

Lessnick said:

“They were willing to fund this idea without a lot of preliminary data because it showed good potential to move toward clinical uses.”

Written by Petra Rattue