Smelling Cancer Cells: A Potential In-Vivo Diagnostic and Monitoring Device

Reef Einoch, Chemical Engineering and Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute, Technion-IIT, Haifa, Israel
Hossam Haick, Chemical Engineering And Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute, Technion-iit, Haifa, Israel

The development of non- or minimal invasive methods to detect cancer and monitor its treatment continues to be a major challenge in oncology. Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) are critical for understanding the biology of cancer and are promising to act as noninvasive biomarkers to effectively monitor disease progression and therapy response as well as to serve as a liquid biopsy in cases where tissue biopsy is unavailable. In the current study, we aim to develop an "in-vivo mobile lab" enable of sensing internal molecular alterations that are linked with the presence of CTCs. Mainly, analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released from- or in response to their incidence. The envisioned mobile lab shall have an ultra-miniaturized array of artificially intelligent nanoarrays with modified biocompatible membrane. The mobile lab that is based on ultra-small circuitry shall be connected wirelessly with external receiver. Preliminary studies have shown the artificially intelligent nanoarray can identify specific volatolomic signatures that are associated with pre-defined lung cancer mutations, including EGFR, ALK, KRAS and P53. These results and our ongoing experiments on blood samples are of great promise and may give us a non-invasive insight into the blood vessels, which eventually lead to better diagnostic and treatment tools.Enter the body of your abstract here