Building a better cancer tumor

Presented by The American Association for Cancer Research®: The ideas and innovators shaping health care

Sep 20, 2024 View in browser   By Erin Schumaker, Daniel Payne, Carmen Paun and Ruth Reader Presented by  INNOVATORS Bill King is using manufacturing know-how to build a better cancer tumor. | Courtesy of Bill King Scientists studying cancer in the lab often take biopsies of patients’ cancer cells to clone them. The process is two-dimensional: The cloned cultures are grown on a flat surface like a petri dish, so unlike cancer cells in humans that form tumors, they spread out as they grow. While scientists have grown 3D tumors in gel or using scaffolding, those tumors aren't consistent from lab to lab. Growing consistent 3D tumors would enable scientists to study more types of cancer, including rarer and understudied cancers. Bill King, an engineering professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Grainger College of Engineering, leads a project funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health to figure out how to improve the process. Erin caught up with King to learn more. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. How can using manufacturing techniques improve cancer research? It starts with robotics, which we’re going to use to seed the tumors, so we can have precise placement of a controlled number of cells. While they incubate, we’re going to measure them using different kinds of imaging technology. Conventional microscopy, but also infrared spectroscopy that gives us information about the chemical composition. The key innovation is that we’re imagining tumor model growth as a digital manufacturing platform. You’re starting with breast cancer. Why? We’re starting with a commonly studied type of breast cancer. We’re going to use that to build the technology and then as the project matures, we’re going to expand into other kinds of breast cancers and then into other kinds of cancer beyond that. How far can you go? We’re going to have a platform where we can do any kind of cancer. We’re reducing the barriers to creating 3D clones of new kinds of cancers, even cancers that are rare or that appear in only one patient. That’s not possible today. The lack of automation and of scalable technologies for growing cancers in the laboratory has created a situation where only a small number of cancers have been studied. Rare cancers are much less studied. This is a little more “moon-shotty” than most academics work on.   A message from The American Association for Cancer Research®: September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. According to the AACR Cancer Progress Report 2024 released this week by the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), more and better treatment options have led to significant progress against many childhood and adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancers. This report provides the latest statistics on cancer incidence, mortality, and survivorship, and features personal stories from patients who have benefitted from innovative anticancer treatments. See the report.   WELCOME TO FUTURE PULSE Baltimore, Md. | Shawn Zeller/POLITICO This is where we explore the ideas and innovators shaping health care. School districts across the U.S. are installing vape detectors in high school bathrooms, NPR reports. Share any thoughts, news, tips and feedback with Carmen Paun at cpaun@politico.com, Daniel Payne at dpayne@politico.com, Ruth Reader at rreader@politico.com, or Erin Schumaker at eschumaker@politico.com. Send tips securely through SecureDrop, Signal, Telegram or WhatsApp.    A message from The American Association for Cancer Research®:   EXAM ROOM Some patients don't believe a virtual doctor is as good as the real thing. | Shutterstock Telehealth use among patients varies, and the reason is not just a matter of digital literacy or internet access. Patients’ perceptions of virtual-care quality and their views of the health care system also play a role, researchers at Philadelphia’s Thomas Jefferson University found in a new study in JAMA Network Open. Why it matters: Understanding which patients might be more or less apt to adopt digital tools for care could allow providers to better target efforts to increase access more equitably. That’s particularly important as several major providers continue to move services away from their brick-and-mortar locations — and as Congress moves to extend telehealth access for Medicare patients. “While digital health equity has been a focus across health systems since 2020, there has been lack of clarity on how to effectively address disparities in telehealth uptake,” said Dr. Kristin Rising, who authored the research. “This study paves a tangible path forward.”   A message from The American Association for Cancer Research®: September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Read about the recent advances in childhood and adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancers in the AACR Cancer Progress Report 2024 released this week by the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). According to the report, the five-year relative survival rate for children diagnosed with cancer in the U.S. has improved from 58% for those diagnosed in the mid-1970s to 85% for those diagnosed between 2013 and 2019. The report highlights how the dedicated efforts of researchers working across the continuum of cancer science, along with sustained federal funding, have powered breakthroughs in clinical care that are improving survival and quality of life for patients in the U.S. and around the world. Hear the personal stories of 10-year-old Michael Methner and 17-year-old Parker Shaw and how they directly benefited from these advances. See their stories.   FOLLOW THE MONEY Wenstrup has some bad news for fellow doctors. | AP Doctors will have to make do with less, again. That’s what members of the House GOP Doctors Caucus said Friday when asked if they expect another cut to Medicare’s physician reimbursement rates this year. They do. A formula Congress created decades ago has routinely proposed small annual cuts to what doctors are paid and would slash their fees by 2.8 percent next year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said this summer. Congress has often passed legislation to avert some or all of the proposed cuts. Leaders of the Doctors Caucus, who are sympathetic to physicians eager to see their pay grow rather than shrink, said they thought the best case scenario this year is a reduction in the cut, not its elimination. “I don’t know that it necessarily can be achieved in this environment and this term,” Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) said when asked whether a pay cut could be avoided this year. Why it matters: Physician groups led by the American Medical Association have made it their No. 1 priority to avert the cut and have also pressed for a broader overhaul of the Medicare physician fee schedule, which Congress created in 1989, so that doctors’ pay keeps pace with inflation. They say the cuts have made it more difficult to serve patients and driven consolidation across the health sector. What’s next? Current funding levels expire in 10 days and Congress is struggling to reach a deal to avoid a partial government shutdown. Still, the GOP doctors said they thought the political moment for a broader overhaul of the Medicare payment system could emerge next year when a new president and Congress take power. Democrats have said they also believe a larger reform is more likely after the election, in 2025.   Follow us on Twitter Carmen Paun @carmenpaun Daniel Payne @_daniel_payne Ruth Reader @RuthReader Erin Schumaker @erinlschumaker   Follow us

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