A study conducted by a team of Indian researchers has found that oral cancer patients having a lesser number of circulating tumour cells (CTCs) in blood live longer than patients with a greater number of such cells. The study that lasted four years was among the largest clinical trials in head and neck cancers.
A total of 500 patients were analysed by a team led by Dr. Pankaj Chaturvedi of Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, Dr. Jayant Khandare, and a team of Pune-based Actorius OncoDiscover Technology. Khandare said in a report, “Altogether 152 oral cancer patients were analysed and 1.5 ml blood per patient was monitored for the presence of CTCs. The study showed that patients with over 20 CTCs per 1.5 ml of blood are more likely to have advanced-stage disease and nodal metastasis (cancer cells breaking away from where they first formed), while patients with less than 12 CTCs per 1.5 ml of blood survive for a longer period.”
He added, “The study was published in the international peer-reviewed Journal Triple OOO recently. As per the national cancer registry, there are about 14,00,000 cancer patients in India and about nine per cent of these are in Maharashtra.”
“The OncoDiscover test, funded by the government through Biotech Ignition Grant and Small Business Industry Research Initiative of the Department of Biotechnology, is the sole CTC test approved by Drugs Controller General of India as per the Medical Device Rules 2017,” Khandare said.
“The test is used to detect CTCs for diagnosis of cancers like those of head and neck, breast, lung, colon and rectal. Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope has evinced an interest in our work and will be visiting our Pune facility soon,” he added.
