{"id":1665,"date":"2024-07-11T11:00:50","date_gmt":"2024-07-11T18:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/magazine\/?p=1665"},"modified":"2024-09-19T12:03:02","modified_gmt":"2024-09-19T19:03:02","slug":"cancer-detective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/magazine\/cancer-detective\/","title":{"rendered":"SNAPSHOT<\/span>
\u2018Cancer detective\u2019 wants to use liquid biopsy to change how the disease is diagnosed and treated"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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SNAPSHOT<\/span>
\u2018Cancer detective\u2019 wants to use liquid biopsy to change how the disease is diagnosed and treated<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n
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\n\n \n Revolutionary new diagnostic tools being developed by physicist Peter Kuhn may help make cancer a disease of the past.\n\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n By<\/span>Rachel B. Levin<\/a><\/strong>\n \n July 11, 2024<\/span>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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\n \n \n Share\n <\/span>\n \n \n <\/svg>\n <\/span>\n Copy Link<\/span>\n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/svg>\n <\/span>\n Facebook<\/span>\n <\/a>\n \n \n \n\n<\/svg>\n\n <\/span>\n X<\/span>\n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/svg>\n <\/span>\n LinkedIn<\/span>\n <\/a>\n \n \n \n \n <\/svg>\n <\/span>\n Bluesky<\/span>\n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/svg>\n <\/span>\n Email<\/span>\n <\/a>\n <\/span>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n \n\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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For cancer researcher Peter Kuhn<\/a>, the battle against the disease is profoundly personal as well as scientific.<\/p>\n

Kuhn\u2019s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 48. Though treatment was successful, Kuhn watched her live for decades with the terrifying specter of its return. With every small ache and pain, she worried the cancer might be back \u2014 and 33 years after her first diagnosis, it recurred.<\/p>\n

\u201cThink how often you have an ache or pain, and multiply that out over 33 years,\u201d says Kuhn, University Professor and Dean\u2019s Professor of Biological Sciences<\/a> at USC Dornsife.<\/p>\n

Driven by a commitment to ease the burden for millions of people at risk of cancer, Kuhn pioneered a \u201cliquid biopsy\u201d to detect cancer cells in the bloodstream. The blood test, a minimally invasive alternative to tissue biopsies, has become an important tool in the management of late-stage cancers. It helps doctors customize treatment plans with precision, aligning drug therapies with the unique profile of each patient\u2019s cancer.<\/p>\n

Ten years ago, when Kuhn first arrived at USC Dornsife as a founding member of the USC Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience<\/a>, he doubted his test would be able to detect early-stage disease. \u201cI thought, \u2018If there\u2019s cancer in the blood, the train has left the station\u2019\u201d \u2014 meaning that the disease has advanced to the point that it has hitched a ride to other locations in the body.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to today: That prediction has been turned upside down.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can, in fact, find early signs of cancer in the blood,\u201d says Kuhn, who also has joint appointments in medicine and urology at Keck School of Medicine of USC and in biomedical engineering, aerospace and mechanical engineering at USC Viterbi School of Engineering.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes it\u2019s not necessarily the cancer itself we\u2019re detecting, but signs of an initial interaction between the emerging cancer and the surrounding tissue or the emerging cancer and the immune system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Considering that early detection can boost a patient\u2019s chance of survival, Kuhn\u2019s blood test has huge potential. His team at the Liquid Biopsy Clinical Laboratory, located in the USC Convergent Science Institute in Cancer<\/a> (CSI-Cancer), is now investigating if his liquid biopsy can be a complement to and boost the performance of mammograms. If it can, the simple blood draw promises to make screening for new cancers and recurrences more accessible and routine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe blood test can be done every few months throughout life,\u201d Kuhn says, noting that other screening tests like mammograms and CT scans aren\u2019t typically performed with such frequency. \u201cDeveloping a way to screen for cancer across the lifespan was always my ultimate goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

True to the convergent science model he helped establish at USC, Kuhn \u2014 recently named a senior member of the National Academy of Inventors<\/a> \u2014 collaborates with experts in machine learning and artificial intelligence from USC Viterbi School of Engineering to revolutionize the field. At the intersection of technology and medicine, researchers in his lab take thousands of images of each blood sample they analyze. Teaching machines to spot the most relevant signals in the images expands the scope and pace of the analysis exponentially.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a scientific community, we\u2019re creating better outcomes for everyone \u2014 those with cancer and those at risk,\u201d Kuhn says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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\n The Detective\u2019s Apprentice\n <\/h2>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
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Meet junior Anya Shah. Diagnosed with leukemia at age 8, the global health major and USC Dornsife natural sciences minor \u2014 who is earning her master\u2019s in narrative medicine through the Progressive Degree Program \u2014 has been working at the Convergent Science Institute in Cancer (CSI-Cancer) based at the USC Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience since freshman year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n

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\n USC Dornsife Magazine\n <\/h2>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
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Spring\/Summer 2024<\/h2>\n

Health and Well‑Being<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
\n\n \n \n \n\n Back to Issue \n <\/svg>\n<\/a>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n
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