Nanocytology for cancer diagnosis

2^nd International Conference on Cytopathology & Histopathology

August 10-12, 2016 Las Vegas, USA

Jianyu Rao

David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, USA

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Cytol Histol

Abstract :

The hallmark of cancer is the invasive and metastatic nature of the disease. Cancer cell invasion and metastasis are driven by the altered cytoskeletal infrastructures that result from the complex interplay of activation/inactivation of multiple signaling pathways regulating these cellular events, which can occur at either the genetic or epigenetic level. Thus, attempts to accurately assess these physiologically relevant mechanical properties of cancer cells using single or even multiple marker profiles at the DNA, RNA or protein level have largely been unsuccessful. Recently we showed that cancer cell mechanical properties or mechanotypic biomarkers, including cell elasticity and deformability can be directly and accurately measured by state of the art label-free technologies at the single cell level. These mechanical properties of cells can be a marker for cancer cell behavior including invasion, metastasis and drug response. Our multi-disciplinary team of investigators developed an approach that combines morphology, molecular and mechanotypic profiling for cancer cell analysis, a process called â�?�?Nanocytologyâ�?. The technologies we have developed and utilized include Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Deformability Cytometry (DC) and Parallel Microfiltration (PMF), which collectively enable robust and high throughput measurements and can potentially be implemented either in clinical setting (for detecting cancer cells) or for drug screen. The nanocytology approach has potential to bring cancer diagnosis and management to a new level to overcome some of the limitations of current morphological and molecular based analysis.

Biography :

Email: jrao@mednet.ucla.edu