Grant: CIHR Fellowship

Ovarian cancer is one of the most serious cancers for women, and although it ranks as only the 5th most common women's cancer, its average 5-year survival rate is only 45%. It is well accepted that early diagnosis is the key to extend survival in ovarian cancer patients. CA 125 is a protein existing in most ovarian cancer cells which can be measured in blood, and therefore is widely used in the clinic for screening of primary ovarian cancer and of cancer recurrence. However, it has been estimated that with the current technology for measuring blood CA 125, the tumor cannot be detected until it has grown for more than 10 years, to a few centimeters, because the existing blood assay is not sensitive enough to detect the protein at very low concentrations. Also, an average cut-off level of CA 125 is used for disease screening, which might not be accurate for each individual patient. In the proposed project, a novel biochip will be developed and used for the accurate measurement of CA 125 at very low concentrations in blood, so that the tumor can be detected in its earliest stages, i.e. at millimeter to submillimeter scales. A novel blood assay will be developed based on combining immunoassays with mass spectrometry, and a micro-chip will be established to miniaturize the assay, to achieve very high sensitivity. The time course of the protein level will be established from serially collected blood samples for each patient, and the results will be correlated to the progression of the disease. This work will serve as the foundation for establishing very sensitive and personalized blood tests which may allow early diagnosis of primary cancers or of cancer recurrence in a reliable manner.