2024-04-22 12:04:58
Discover lung cancer from one blood test , without resorting to the scanner, a cumbersome and expensive examination: this may soon be possible thanks to the research work of two biologists from the University Hospital Center (CHU) of Besançon (Doubs). Zohair Selmani and Alexis Overs have identified biomarkers specific to lung tumors in the blood circulation. A discovery that promises to facilitate diagnosis, screening and monitoring of the disease.
Traces of tumor DNA were highlighted using artificial intelligence. “During the Covid period, we did not have access to our benches,” explains Zohair Selmani. We therefore moved towards a bioinformatics approach, using an international public database.” A computer script was developed to analyze the biological data of 400 patients and select around a hundred “targets”. A machine learning process ( machine learning) then let the algorithm determine an optimal combination of six biological markers.
Work supported by Satt Sayens
The search for this lung tumor “signature” was tested in collaboration with the EPIGENExp epigenetics platform at the University of Franche-Comté and CHU from Dijon . 40 blood samples were tested by Digital PCR : in almost 95% of cases, traces of tumor were detected in the 20 patients with lung cancer; nothing was found in the 20 healthy subjects.
After this initial validation, a European patent application, linked to the Dijon University Hospital and the University of Franche-Comté, was submitted with the support of the technology transfer acceleration company (Satt) Sayens. The latter provides the project with funds of 350,000 euros which make it possible to carry out the clinical evaluation which is currently carried out on a thousand blood samples, in collaboration with Civil hospices in Lyon .
The preliminary results are decisive and the system can be scientifically validated by the end of the year. In contact with manufacturers interested in purchasing the patent, the Bisontine team is also conducting research to adapt the technology to other organs (colon, breast, pancreas, prostate, ovaries) and to melanoma. “Ultimately, we might even imagine a global cancer screening test with liquid biopsy,” says Zohair Selmani.
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