Technology Transfer

Shuttle Technology Improves Cancer Detection

A MIAMI, FLORIDA, BIOTECHNOLOGY COMPANY'S new flow cell instrument, derived from Space Shuttle technology and presently in commercialization, shows signs of improved cancer detection and treatment, as well as applications to other serious diseases. The DNAnalyzer™, a new triangular flow-cell technology from RATCOM Inc. with measuring abilities not found in other flow cytometers, is displaying great promise in separating abnormal cells from the normal cells in tumor samples. This allows for a more positive confirmation of the tumor's status.

The prototype InFlight Cytometer, being tested at the University of Miami for use in cancer diagnosis and therapy, gives improved resolution and has three times more uniformity on a day-to-day basis than results on the same samples from older flow cytometer technology. Older technology could only suspect tumors in 20 percent of the cases in a 170-patient study, according to RATCOM President Richard A. Thomas.

Testing of the new instrument in 1997 confirmed the advancement in flow channel design. Pioneered by RATCOM from its original compact-flow cytometer design for the Space Shuttle, it is the first commercial instrument stemming from a partnership of Kennedy Space Center and the American Cancer Society—the Space Station Inflight Cytometry Project.

The initial project undertaken by the partnership is flow cytometry. This is a process in which cells in suspension flow through a sensing region in which light signals indicating important biologic properties are generated and evaluated by photodetectors.

The cancer-fighting benefits of flow cytometry include the ability to evaluate cancer cells very early and to determine several important features, including the sensitivity of those cells to different chemotherapy drugs, the ability of the cells to grow and their capacity for spreading. Better and more timely strategies in the fight against cancer was a main objective of the research. Other potential uses of the new technology involve the early detection of leukemia, chemo- sensitivity studies prior to chemotherapy, antibody analysis and the detection of pathogenic organisms.

NASA sought a flight cytometer, compact enough for flight aboard the Space Shuttle and placement in the orbiting International Space Station, to separate and examine cells rapidly to learn more about the effect of microgravity on the immune system. Preliminary evidence from Space Shuttle flights suggests that immunity is depressed.

NASA and RATCOM entered into a contract for the design of an in-flight cytometer and the fabrication of a fully functional demonstration test unit. Joint research to develop this advanced flow cytometry instrument could support biomedical experiments aboard the International Space Station while advancing medical knowledge in cancer detection and treatment here on Earth.

The challenges in developing multichannel flow cytometry were addressed in a Kennedy-American Cancer Society workshop. Technical improvements needed included improved signal processing for the multichannel analysis of optical emission spectra and reductions in complexity, size and power requirements. Other improvements were simplification of sample preparation, expert system software and the numbers of optical sensors.

For more information, contact Lewis Parrish at Kennedy Space Center.
Call: 407/867-6373, E-mail: ParriLM@kscgws00.ksc.nasa.gov Please mention you read about it in Innovation.