Our TeCHNOLOGY iN a nutshell
Tumor oxygen is important in cancer therapy
Hypoxia (low oxygen) in the tumor microenvironment is a strong indicator of increased radiation resistance, treatment failure and metastasis . Hypoxia is prevalent in most solid tumors, particularly in the head and neck, prostate, and cervix . For instance, 48% of all cervical cancers are characterized as hypoxic and those have a reduced 6-year overall survival of 29% compared with 87% for normoxic cases . Adapting a patient’s treatment to address hypoxia will greatly enhance treatment outcomes. Despite the proven benefits of hypoxia based treatment prescriptions in preclinical models, including our work the translation of these findings into personalized human applications has been hindered by the absence of reliable and repeatable oxygen imaging technology.
How OxyCureRT personalize cancer therapy
We are pioneering a groundbreaking clinic-ready technology to enable personalized Oxygen-Guided High-Dose Rate (OGHDR) brachytherapy. We will for the first time will 1)identify patients with low tumor oxygen 2) monitor each patient response to interventions at increasing tumor oxygens and determine peak oxygen time in tumor and then 3) target radioresistant tumor subregions that are hypoxic with curative doses while protecting surrounding healthy tissue for the first time.
Oxygen mapping to guide HDR
To attain precise oxygen readings, we will integrate the electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) technology into the High Dose Rate (HDR) workflow. This involves incorporating oxygen-sensitive spin probes outside the plastic HDR brachytherapy needles, coupling them with an EPR oxygen reader, and automating the oxygen imaging process.