The University of Louisville Alumni Magazine: for alumni, faculty, staff, students and anyone that is a UofL Cardinal fan.
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S U M M E R U O F L M A G A Z I N E | 3 5 M E D I C A L M A R V E L S TARGETED TREATMENT A simple blood test to detect cervical cancer and learn how far it has spread? It's now on the medical horizon, thanks to lead researcher Nichola Garbett, Division of Oncology and Hematology, and a group of researchers from the School of Medicine. Leveraging technology the team developed to detect and identify a variety of diseases, a simple "heat profile," or plasma thermogram, can now be created from a person's blood sample to not only detect cervical cancer, but also determine its stage of growth. The thermogram, generated from a routine patient blood draw, is put through a process known as Differential Scanning Calorimetry, in which it is melted to produce a shape that reveals whether the patient is healthy, has precancerous cervical abnormalities or has cervical cancer. "We have been able to demonstrate a more convenient, less intrusive test for detecting and staging cervical cancer," said Garbett. "Other research has shown that we are able to demonstrate if the current treatment is effective so that clinicians will be able to better tailor care for each patient." According to Garbett, there is already some traction for clinical adoption of the plasma thermogram test, including a possible expanded study at the James Graham Brown Cancer Center. Much less invasive than a Pap smear (the traditional method of detecting cervical cancer), the test can be repeated every two to three weeks versus radiation treatment or a CAT scan, allowing a more targeted, personalized treatment in the event cancer is present. It will also indicate whether a patient is responding to current methods of treatment for the disease. Garbett sees the test as something that can be used along with Pap smears to detect cervical abnormalities, monitor disease progression and help doctors develop more personalized treatment plans by tracking how patients respond to specific medicines. As a result of the promising research findings and other studies using the plasma thermogram technology the research team has developed, Garbett has formed a startup company with colleagues Brad Chaires, James Graham Brown Chair in Cancer Biophysics and A. Bennett Jenson, PhD, Brown Cancer Center. Louisville Bioscience, Inc. (LBldx ™ ) holds an exclusive license to the University of Louisville's Plasma Thermogram ™ (pT ™ ) technology. Garbett, Chaires and Jenson also are shareholders in the company. "We have been able to demonstrate a more convenient, less intrusive test for detecting and staging cervical cancer." —Nichola Garbett Researcher Nichola Garbett, Division of Oncology and Hematology, reads results of a plasma thermogram that can detect the presence of cervical cancer. U L _ 3 5 3 5 UL_35 35 6 / 2 3 / 1 4 9 : 4 7 A M 6/23/14 9:47 AM