Tech Briefs Magazine - October 2022 - Comsol-46

Health & Biotech
technology that can be built into any device
- large, small or combined with other optical-imaging
systems. Once the neural network
is " trained, " with many tissue samples
and the use of powerful graphics processing
units (GPUs), it will be able to run on a
computer or network, enabling rapid
transformation from a standard image to a
virtual histology image.
Future studies will determine if this digital,
biopsy-free approach can interface with
whole-body imaging and electronic medical
records to usher in a new age of " digital
dermatology " and change how dermatology
is practiced. Additionally, the research
team will determine if this artificial intelligence
platform can work with other AI
technologies to look for patterns and further
aid in clinical diagnosis.
For more information, contact Christine
Wei-li Lee at clee@seas.ucla.edu.
Miniature Optical Fiber Treatment Device Offers More
Effective Cancer Immunotherapy
The device infuses antibodies through the miniature fiber to the tumor to activate T cells
around tumor cells.
Virgina Tech, Blacksburg, VA
C
ancer immunotherapy, one of the
most important and promising therapies
for cancer treatments, is being used by
oncologists to treat patients suffering from
many different cancers including breast,
cervical, colon, stomach, and skin.
" However, an obstacle to achieving
more than moderate success, " said Rong
Tong, assistant professor in the department
of chemical engineering, " is none
of the current delivery strategies can sustainably
supply drugs that can, over the
course of a few weeks, adjust the drug
dose either to lower systemic toxicities or
to augment therapeutic response. "
Tong came to a Tech in 2015, the same
year that Assistant Professor Xiaoting Jia
joined the Bradley Department of Electrical
and Computer Engineering. When
the two met, they began discussing their
respective research - his experience in
drug delivery and cancer immunotherapy
and hers on optical fibers for sensing
neurological diseases.
Deciding to merge their efforts to
help combat cancer, Tong and Jia addressed
the problem with current immunotherapy
delivery methods by working
on a project to develop a miniature optical
fiber treatment device that can deliver
cancer immuno therapeutic antibodies
while measuring tumor impedance to
monitor treatment efficacy.
Their initial team included their first
graduate students, Ai Lin Chin, a PhD student
in chemical engineering (projected
to graduate this fall) and Jiang Shan, who
received a PhD in electrical engineering in
May 2021 and is currently a post doc researcher
at Stanford University. Subsequently,
Eungyo Jang and Liqian Niu, PhD
students in chemical engineering advised
by Tong; and Liwu Li, professor of biological
sciences, an expert in immunology,
joined the researchers.
By using electrode-embedded optical fibers,
which have both local delivery and
measurement capabilities that span the
course of a few weeks, and combining local
immune checkpoint blockade antibodies
delivery with photodynamic therapy, the
researchers have been able to elicit a sustained
anti-tumor immunity with complete
tumor shrinkage in multiple tumor models.
To test whether the cured mice have
" immune memory " against tumors, the
researchers challenged the cured mice by
injecting tumor cells into these mice, and
they found that none of the cured mice
had tumor regrowth.
" We can infuse antibodies through
our miniature fiber to the tumor to activate
T cells around tumor cells and further
elicit anti-tumor immunity by recruiting
more T cells to the tumor bed, "
said Jia. " This will eventually produce
strong and durable anti-tumor immunity
as we see the accumulated memory T
cells in tumors and lymph nodes. "
The team's delivery approach, from
local to systemic, is very different from
conventional treatment that uses only a
systemic administration method, said
Tong. And it also avoids antibodies causing
toxicities before reaching the tumor.
Tong said the research found that
measuring tumor electrical signals (tumor
impedance) using the new device is
rapid and allows real-time monitoring of
tumor growth, which differs greatly from
conventional contrast-agent based tumor
imaging therapies.
Miniature fiber device developed in Virginia Tech's College of Engineering could make cancer immunotherapy
more effective. (Image: Tonia Moxley/Virginia Tech)
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" When a tumor grows up, the impedance
reading correspondingly increases;
when tumor sizes decrease because of
the antibodies treatment, we also find
the impedance decreased, " Jia said.
" Jia and I began this research as young,
enthusiastic faculty members at Virginia
Tech who were hopeful but not really
sure of the result, " said Tong. " We are
very pleased with the contribution our
collaboration has made to achieving better
results for patients undergoing cancer
immunotherapy and we encourage
other young professors in the College of
Engineering to join forces that could
open up new possibilities in the biomedical
engineering field. "
For more information, contact Emily
Roediger at eroedig@vt.edu; 540-2312108.
Tech
Briefs, October 2022
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Tech Briefs Magazine - October 2022

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