A consortium led by the Medical University of Vienna aims to use new medical imaging to significantly improve the understanding of tumour growth in the case of breast cancer, which ultimately will save lives. The AIT Competence Unit Molecular Diagnostics of the Center for Health & Bioresources, is part of the project with the development of two fundamental components and contributes its expertise in the nano- and sensor fields. The four-year project is funded by the EU with more than EUR 6 million.
About 13% of all women develop breast cancer during their lifetime, making it the most common cancer and cause of death among women. A complete cure still cannot be guaranteed, although increasingly better treatment options are significantly reducing the probability of death. In most cases, therapy-resistant cancer cells lead to a relapse of the disease and renewed tumour growth. At present, there are no methods available to make these cells visible. However, this would be the basis for understanding the behaviour of these cells and thus the key to improved therapy.
This is where the new REAP project comes in and has set itself the goal of visualizing these cells. Optical imaging techniques are being developed for this purpose and combined in such a way that the strengths of the respective methods can be optimally applied. AIT is involved in two fundamental building blocks of this new generation of medical imaging technology. One is the development of a contrast agent based on nanoparticles with customized optical properties and the other is the development of a novel sensor concept to make ultrasound waves optically detectable.
AIT experts Stefan Schrittwieser and Rainer Hainberger, of the Molecular Diagnostics Competence Unit of the Center for Health & Bioresources, are leading these two focal points at AIT. Stefan Schrittwieser explains: "In order to make the cells to be examined visible, a contrast agent is needed that marks only the therapy-resistant cells and thus allows them to be distinguished from other neighbouring cells. The nanoparticles with tailored optical properties are developed specifically for this imaging method and optimized for it." The contrast agents thus form the basis for successful visualization of the cancer cells. Another foundation is sensitive signal detection. Schrittwieser continued, "The nanoparticles can be excited by laser light to generate acoustic ultrasound waves. These ultrasound waves are subsequently detected and provide information about the localization of the therapy-resistant cancer cells." To make the ultrasound waves visible, other optical effects are used. Rainer Hainberger, head of the sensor group, explains the procedure: "For this purpose, we use so-called optical waveguides, which can be imagined as fibre optic cables on a microchip. The ultrasonic waves change the propagation properties of the light in the waveguides and can thus be detected optically."
These innovative approaches will enable the realization of other radical imaging techniques in the future and find application in many other medical and biological fields. The project will run until Dec. 31, 2024.
Other partners in the REAP project are teams from the Medical University of Vienna, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (ES), Picophotonics Oy (FI), Tampereen Korkeakoulusaatio SR (FI), Politecnico di Torino (IT), Innolas Laser Gmbh (DE), LaVision BioTec GmbH (DE) and Lionix International BV (NL). This project is funded by the European Union's H2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement number 101016964).
https://www.projectreap.eu/