MOU between Cancer Institute and IIT Madras for jointly developing point of care device for early diagnosis of Ovarian Cancer

Chennai, July 29, 2021: Ovarian cancer is the seventh most common cancer and eighth leading cause of cancer associated death in women. The number of new cases worldwide in 2020 was 314000 while in India it was 44000; the number of deaths due to ovarian cancer in 2020 was 207000 globally while in India it was 32077 (the deaths include cases diagnosed in earlier years). It is therefore a silent killer since most patients do not have any symptoms in the early stage or have non-specific symptoms which are usually ignored, resulting in most patients presenting in advanced stages of the disease.

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Under funding from the Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India, the Department of Molecular Oncology at the Cancer Institute (WIA) had undertaken research to identify proteins which can be detected in the blood which can help in the diagnosis of epithelial ovarian cancers, which accounts for over 90% of the ovarian cancers.

(L to R) Dr V Sridevi (Surgical Oncologist), Cancer Institute; Dr.T.Rajkumar, Professor and Head of the Department of Molecular Oncology, Cancer Institute (WIA); Dr G Selvaluxmi, Director, Cancer Institute (WIA); Dr Ravindra Gettu, Dean Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research, IIT Madras; Dr Raghavendra Sai, Associate Professor in the Dept of Applied Mechanics; Dr G Gopal, Dept of Molecular Oncology, Cancer Institute

The research used blood samples from 138 ovarian cancer patients, 20 patients with benign ovarian cancers and 238 healthy subjects. The study used high end proteomics [Tandem Mass Tag (TMT) based quantitative analysis by high resolution mass spectrometry) for initial identification of proteins which were differentially expressed in epithelial ovarian cancers. There were over 507 blood proteins which were expressed differently between healthy subjects and epithelial ovarian cancer patients. A two stage validation was then undertaken.

21 of the 507 proteins in blood that were found to be expressed at different levels were taken up for validation using an advanced technique called Quantibody array. In the 2nd stage, 9 proteins found to be expressed at different levels between healthy subjects and epithelial ovarian cancer patients were assessed using sandwich ELISA for each individual protein.

Using the ELISA assays, a combination of 5 markers (CA125, IGFBP2, SPP1, TSP1 and ADI) showed 90.24% sensitivity and 94.87% specificity. This assay of 5 markers has the potential for early diagnosis of epithelial ovarian cancers.

A patent application has been filed. The research has now been published in the Journal of Proteomics. The team was led by Dr. T.Rajkumar, Professor and Head of the Department of Molecular Oncology, Cancer Institute (WIA).

Now we plan to partner with IIT Madras to develop a Point of Care device for early diagnosis of ovarian cancer. The device will use biosensors for detection of the proteins in the blood and the IIT Madras team will be led by Dr Raghavendra Sai, Associate Professor in the Dept of Applied Mechanics. The Cancer Institute [WIA] team will be led by Dr T Rajkumar, and include Dr V Sridevi (Surgical Oncologist), Dr G Gopal and Dr Mayilvahanan Bose (the latter two are from the Dept of Molecular Oncology).

The MOU was signed by Dr G Selvaluxmi, Director, Cancer Institute (WIA) and Dr Ravindra Gettu, Dean Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research, IIT Madras.

We will be applying to the Govt of India for the funding for this program.

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