The pancreas, nestled between the stomach and spine, plays a vital role in digestion and blood sugar regulation. But it’s also the battleground for a deadly cancer called pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), a stealthy killer. PDAC is the most prevalent pancreatic cancer, claiming countless lives as the third leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S. Its insidious nature makes it challenging to detect, and it often returns after treatment, leaving only 13% of patients alive beyond five years.
A groundbreaking study by a multidisciplinary team at the University of Illinois Chicago is exploring the potential of lidocaine, a familiar local anesthetic, to curb the spread of pancreatic cancer cells during surgery. Their innovative approach, published in the journal Lab on a Chip, focuses on capturing these rogue cells.
Dr. Gina Votta-Velis, the lead investigator and UIC professor of anesthesiology, believes that lidocaine, a trusted pain reliever for over six decades, could be a game-changer in mitigating metastasis and improving patient outcomes. This bold idea has the potential to revolutionize cancer treatment.
Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are the culprits behind cancer’s spread. These cells break free from tumors during surgery and infiltrate the bloodstream, leading to poorer prognoses and higher recurrence rates. But here’s where it gets controversial—Votta-Velis suggests that lidocaine might prevent these cells from escaping the bloodstream, trapping them for elimination by the immune system.
“CTCs are the catalysts of metastasis,” she explains. “By detecting and subduing their aggression with lidocaine, we may disrupt the metastatic process.” However, isolating CTCs is akin to finding a needle in a haystack, as they are scarce in the bloodstream.
Enter Ian Papautsky, a fellow University of Illinois Cancer Center affiliate and UIC professor of biomedical engineering. His expertise in microfluidics, the study of fluid flow through tiny channels, led to the creation of a microfluidic device that isolates cancer cells from blood samples based on size. This process, known as a liquid biopsy, is a crucial tool in cancer diagnosis.
Papautsky’s device, crafted from glass and plastic, is a mere couple of inches long with channels wider than a hair strand. It can separate CTCs from white and red blood cells with remarkable precision, as CTCs are larger and more malleable. This method ensures the cells remain unharmed during isolation.
In a 2019 study, Papautsky’s team achieved an impressive 93% accuracy in cancer cell isolation. When compared to a commercial tool called EasySep, which uses magnetic separation, Papautsky’s method proved gentler and more effective, recovering eight times more cancer cells and processing blood samples faster.
“This method is a significant advancement for diagnosing asymptomatic cancers like PDAC, where blood tests may be the only early detection tool,” Papautsky emphasizes. Dr. Pier Giulianotti, a co-investigator and surgical expert, agrees that this discovery paves the way for personalized medical treatment.
Giulianotti, renowned for his work in hepatobiliary pancreatic cancer surgery, highlights the importance of understanding how cancer cells enter the bloodstream and controlling this process. The study’s findings could be a crucial step forward in cancer research.
This research, involving a talented team of UIC researchers and co-authors from Rush University Medical Center, offers a glimmer of hope in the fight against pancreatic cancer. But the question remains: Will lidocaine’s potential to curb metastasis be the breakthrough we’ve been waiting for? The scientific community eagerly awaits further developments.