New Technology Allows to Speedily Sort Out Breast Cancer Targeted Therapy Patients
-SNUH Develops a New Tool of Multiple Reaction Monitoring-Mass Spectrometry (MRM-MS), which is Economic in Both Time and Cost
-Distinguishes Between HER2-Positive and HER2-Negative Patients with a Minimum Accuracy Rate of 95%
An examination technology of new generation for analyzing breast cancer markers of HER2(human epidermal growth factor receptor type2) protein has been developed. This technology guarantees not only high accuracy and precision but is also economic in both time and cost.
Research teams of Professor Youngsoo Kim(Department of Biomedical Engineering) and Professor Han Suk Ryu(Department of Pathology) announced that they developed a new tool of Multiple Reaction Monitoring-Mass Spectrometry(MRM-MS), which can accurately measure the overexpression of HER2 protein, an important biological indicator of breast cancer.
Breast cancer is top 1 cancer in occurrence rate among all cancers in Korean women, while the rate increases every year with 22,000 new patients being added every year. Here, HER2-positive breast cancer takes up 20% of all breast cancer types. It is a malignant tumor that occurs as an overexpression of HER2 protein receptor that which delivers the signs of accelerating growth of cancer cells. Because it has a high relapse rate and short survival periods, the overall survival rate and prognosis is poor. The ability to accurately measure HER2 protein is the most important thing for improving the survival rate of HER2-positive breast cancer, and for patients to find their disease in its early stage.
What must be checked before injecting Herceptin to patients, which is the marker medicine for HER2-positive breast cancer patients, is the rise of HER2 protein markers or DNA’s, by using the companion diagnostic method.
Presently, the method of using immunohistochemical staining and Fluorescent in situ hybridization(FISH) is the standard method for examining HER2 protein markers, but this method has its limits. Through the mentioned two stages of examination, it takes about one week for results to come out and to finally diagnose a patient as HER2-positive. Also, because it requires the naked eye to determine the degree of positiveness, the judgment can be subjective. Moreover, the standards of deciding categories in judging positiveness are also very complicated.
The new technology of multiple reaction monitoring-mass spectrometry(MRM-MS) developed by the research teams is a high-sensitivity analysis technology that can distinguish even the differences between expressions of small quantity protein, via measuring the unique quantity of HER2 markers by mass spectrometry. Also, in just one-time examination, it can detect more than one marker simultaneously. This means that it can help to predict the occurrence of other types of cancer, as it simultaneously detects many protein bio-markers that can each be identified with a different type of cancer.
The research teams conducted their examination on breast cancer HER2 protein markers, from January 2010 until December 2017 at the Seoul National University Hospital, with data based on 210 patients who received mastectomy after being diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma as objects. They were divided into 5 categories of stages(▲HER2 0 ▲HER2 1+ ▲HER2 2+/FISH- ▲HER2 2+/FISH+ ▲HER2 3+). As a result, the new MRM-MS technology was able to carefully distinguish the differences between all 5 stages. It could also distinguish between HER2-positive and HER2-negative patients at an accuracy rate of at least 95%.
[PICTURES]
A: Results of examination on breast cancer HER2 protein markers show that the new MRM-MS technology can carefully distinguish the differences between all 5 stages(HER2 0, HER2 1+, HER2 2+/FISH-, HER2 2+/FISH+, HER2 3+).
B, C: By using the new MRM-MS technology, patients of HER2-positive and of HER2-negative can be distinguished at a minimum accuracy of 95%.
In comparison to existing methods, this new examination method reduces the examination result waiting time by 14 hours. It also cuts down the required cost to approximately 30%. Moreover, it improves the examination’s accuracy and precision, since the mass-spectrometry, which is a high-sensitivity tool, takes the place the judgment of the naked eye, which rests on inevitably subjective analysis. Therefore, with the newly developed technology, it became possible to see accurate examination results via an automatic system that is speedier and less costly.
Professor Youngsoo Kim at the Department of Biomedical Engineering says, “If we use high-tech examination tool, in just one analysis, we can detect not only breast cancer markers but also the markers of more than 300 types of cancers, simultaneously.” He adds, “Precision medicine and diagnostic technology using this tool will gradually be applied in clinical medicine, and the industry for related platform will keep growing in demand.”
These research results were presented in an article in the recent volume of Clinical Chemistry online, the renowned academic journal of The American Association for Clinical Chemistry.