Using 'avatar' cells to test cancer drugs and come up with personalized treatments

J-STORIES - When treating cancer, it is vital to analyze the characteristics of a patient’s tumor to understand how drugs will affect it. This process, which is often a race against time, is now being done using three-dimensional cancer cell models known as “avatars.” It is hoped that this technique will enable doctors to recommend personalized treatments with precision and speed.

The technology is being developed by Taiwanese startup CancerFree Biotech, which this May took part in the SusHi Tech Tokyo Global Startup Program, one of Asia's largest startup events. The company was selected as a finalist from among 507 others who took part in a pitch contest at the event organized by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. It currently provides its personalized cancer drug testing technology in Taiwan, Japan, China and Vietnam.

Up to now, cancer testing has mainly used two-dimensional cultures of cancer cells. While that method is cost-effective, the cultures are very different to the three-dimensional environment of tumors in the body, and cannot adequately reflect the complexity of tumor cells or their interaction with other tissues.

To overcome these limits, researchers are now working on “organoids,” three-dimensional cell systems and organs derived from a patient's own tumor cells. The new technique allows the characteristics and variety of cancer cells to be more accurately reproduced, and for more cells to be produced more quickly and cheaply than was previously possible.

The three-dimensional organoid-culture platform developed by CancerFree Biotech is called Ex-Vivo Avatar (EVA) and is a system for three-dimensional culture of CTCs (Circulating Tumor Cells) that have entered blood vessels and are flowing through the bloodstream. It uses AI image recognition to test for the cells’ sensitivity to various drugs.

Just 20 milliliters of the patient’s blood is enough to perform the test. As well as reducing side effects from drugs whose efficacy is uncertain, the test reduces the time needed to find the right treatment for the patient. Personalized treatment options can be offered as soon as three weeks after the blood test. The company’s CEO, Po Chen, told J-Stories that the test is effective for cancers that have reached Stage 2 and beyond, particularly solid tumors.

“We have confirmed efficacy in the treatment of around 75% of patients who used the test technology,” he said.

When his father was being treated for cancer, Chen learned about the innovative work on personalized cancer treatment underway at Taipei Medical University. It occurred to him that more people could be saved if cancer treatment was more personalized. In 2018, he founded CancerFree Biotech and started work with the university on developing the Ex Vivo Avatar platform.

Chen has been looking at developing a business in Japan, which is geographically and culturally close to Taiwan, for some time. He said that work on partnership agreements is already underway and that he hopes to establish a Japanese research base before the end of this year.

For becoming a finalist in the pitch competition at the SusHi Tech Tokyo Global Startup Program, CancerFree Biotech won a year’s usage of office space. It plans to visit Osaka and Okinawa, as well as Tokyo, before deciding where to set up.

"The spread of this technology to even more medical industries should help with the development of not just cellular therapies for cancer, but also cancer vaccines and new drugs,” said Chen.

Translated by Tony McNicol

Top photo by CancerFree Biotech

For inquiries about this article, please contact jstories@pacificbridge.jp

Click here for the Japanese version of the article