A team spanning neuropathologists, scientists, neurosurgeons and researchers at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH), the University of Nottingham and colleagues in Germany is developing a nanopore sequencing-based approach that has the potential to transform the diagnosis of tumours.
The Nanopore sequencer, in use as a research tool at present, enables a radical new pathway where brain tumours can be diagnosed within just two hours of a biopsy being taken from a patient.
Dr Simon Paine, Consultant Neuropathologist at NUH, and one of the team developing this technology, explains about the potential of this research breakthrough, and the work underway to get this approach into clinical practice in future:
"Nanopore is a fantastic way of sequencing DNA. It's a little hole in a membrane, and as the DNA goes through that hole you can detect the code of the DNA in real time, and also identify the changes around the DNA"
We're using this technology to work out what sort of brain tumor a patient has. Currently that process takes several weeks and involves us sending tissue away to London. With nanopore we can do this in real time, in the operating theatre whilst the patient is undergoing surgery.
Dr Simon Paine, Consultant Neuropathologist at NUH, on the application of Nanopore DNA sequencing technology to brain tumours
From weeks to hours: Speeding up diagnosis
Dr Paine continues: "This is allowing us to analyse tumours very quickly and gather the genetic data we need in order to classify them and understood more about the biology of brain tumours to predict the patient's future chances and prognosis".
Using the pathway that the team have developed, they can analyse brain tumour DNA within a couple of hours to get a diagnosis and then get the remaining important molecular diagnostic data over the next 24 hours.
There is enormous potential to improve patient outcomes. Also the pathway we have developed could be applied to other tumor sites, for example sarcoma, leukeamia or lymphoma to improve the speed and accuracy of diagnosis for these patients too.
From bench to bedside: Getting the technology into routine clinical care
The main aim of the project is to develop a pathway to diagnose brain tumours that is quick, efficient and accurate and that can easily be adopted by other NHS Trusts across the country.
The hope is that this will help to reduce variability in access to the molecular testing of tumours.
The nanopore sequencer is relatively cheap and so has the potential to improve the equity of access to genetic testing for patients all over the UK.
Dr Paine and the team are now working to get the nanopore technology validated and safely into routine clinical practice, both in Nottingham and, in the longer term, across the country.
Nottingham leads the way with Nanopore: Tumour DNA sequencing technology
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hthwymJi5Ec