Comparative oncology chemosensitivity assay for personalized medicine using low-coherence digital holography of
Zhen Hua1, Zhe Li1, Dawith Lim1
1Department of Physics, Purdue University, West Lafayette, USA.
Abstract:
Nearly half of cancer patients who receive standard-of-care treatments fail to respond to their first-line chemotherapy, demonstrating the pressing need for improved methods to select personalized cancer therapies. Low-coherence digital holography has the potential to fill this need by performing dynamic contrast OCT on living cancer biopsies treated ex vivo with anti-cancer therapeutics. Fluctuation spectroscopy of dynamic light scattering under conditions of holographic phase stability captures ultra-low Doppler frequency shifts down to 10 mHz caused by light scattering from intracellular motions. In the comparative preclinical/clinical trials presented here, a two-species (human and canine) and two-cancer (esophageal carcinoma and B-cell lymphoma) analysis of spectral phenotypes identifies a set of drug response characteristics that span species and cancer type. Spatial heterogeneity across a centimeter-scale patient biopsy sample is assessed by measuring multiple millimeter-scale sub-samples. Improved predictive performance is achieved for chemoresistance profiling by identifying red-shifted sub-samples that may indicate impaired metabolism and removing them from the prediction analysis. These results show potential for using biodynamic imaging for personalized selection of cancer therapy.
Insights
Personalized cancer therapy selection is improved using biodynamic imaging. This method analyzes intracellular motion in biopsies to predict chemotherapy response, enhancing treatment effectiveness for patients with esophageal carcinoma and B-cell lymphoma.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Optics
- Cancer Research
- Medical Imaging
Background:
- Many cancer patients do not respond to initial chemotherapy, highlighting the need for personalized treatment selection.
- Dynamic contrast optical coherence tomography (OCT) using low-coherence digital holography offers a potential solution for ex vivo analysis of cancer biopsies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate biodynamic imaging via fluctuation spectroscopy for predicting anti-cancer therapeutic response.
- To assess the potential for personalized cancer therapy selection based on spectral phenotypes across species and cancer types.
Main Methods:
- Low-coherence digital holography was used for dynamic contrast OCT on living cancer biopsies.
- Fluctuation spectroscopy of dynamic light scattering captured ultra-low Doppler frequency shifts (down to 10 mHz) from intracellular motions.
- Comparative preclinical/clinical trials analyzed spectral phenotypes in human and canine esophageal carcinoma and B-cell lymphoma samples.
Main Results:
- Identified drug response characteristics that are conserved across species and cancer types.
- Assessed spatial heterogeneity within patient biopsy samples by analyzing multiple sub-samples.
- Improved chemoresistance profiling by identifying and excluding red-shifted sub-samples indicative of impaired metabolism.
Conclusions:
- Biodynamic imaging shows potential for personalized selection of cancer therapies.
- Spectral phenotypes derived from intracellular motion analysis can predict therapeutic response.
- Ex vivo analysis of biopsy sub-samples can enhance predictive accuracy for chemoresistance.
