Photoacoustic detection of circulating melanoma cells in late stage patients

Abstract

Melanoma is the deadliest skin cancer and is responsible for over 7000 deaths in the US annually. The spread of cancer, or metastasis, is responsible for these deaths, as secondary tumors interrupt normal organ function. Circulating tumor cells, or those cells that spread throughout the body from the primary tumor, are thought to be responsible for metastasis. We developed an optical method, photoacoustic flow cytometry, in order to detect and enumerate circulating melanoma cells (CMCs) from blood samples of patients. We tested the blood of Stage IV melanoma patients to show the ability of the photoacoustic flow cytometer to detect these rare cells in blood. We then tested the system on archived blood samples from Stage III melanoma patients with known outcomes to determine if detection of CMCs can predict future metastasis. We detected between 0 and 66 CMCs in Stage IV patients. For the Stage III study, we found that of those samples with CMCs, two remained disease free and five developed metastasis. Of those without CMCs, six remained disease free and one developed metastasis. We believe that photoacoustic detection of CMCs provides valuable information for the prediction of metastasis and we postulate a system for more accurate prognosis.

Biomedical overview of melanin. 2. Updating molecular modeling, synthesis mechanism, and supramolecular properties regarding melanoma therapy

“…Comparison of tissue from albino and pigmented rabbits showed that melanin was a particularly strong acoustic attenuator. Photoacoustic signals can also be used to reveal circulating melanoma cells by flow cytometry (O'Brien et al, 2012;Viator et al, 2020).…”

Photoacoustic imaging for cutaneous melanoma assessment: a comprehensive review

“…Our primary source was Google Scholar, which yielded 12,300 total results. Of the 12,300 results, 102 studies 103,109,113,[115][116][117][132][133][134][135][136][137][138][139][140] met our criteria and are reviewed here. 3 Investigations of CM Using PAI…”

“…Our primary source was Google Scholar, which yielded 12,300 total results. Of the 12,300 results, 102 studies 103 , 109 , 113 , 115 – 117 , 132 – 140 , 165 – 245 met our criteria and are reviewed here.…”

“…167 Numerous studies, summarized in Table 4, have investigated PAFC to detect melanoma CTCs. 137,139,[166][167][168][170][171][172]178,179,189,190…”

Liquid Biopsy in Clinical Oncology

“…Особенно заметным это оказалось в рамках серии клинических испытаний, посвященных задаче неинвазивного дифференциального диагноза доброкачественных и злокачественных новообразований, выявленных при скрининге у лиц в группе риска (хронические курильщики, страдающие хронической обструктивной болезнью легких) [104]. Существует ряд более современных методик, использующих магнитоэлектрические, деформационные, оптические или акустические воздействия для селекции опухолевых клеток [105][106][107].…”