USA Team Wins Grant For TNBC Test

The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) granted $423,500 to researchers at the USA Health Mitchell Cancer Institute (MCI) and University of South Alabama (USA) who are developing a blood test for early detection and recurrence prediction of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), an aggressive subtype of the disease that disproportionately affects Black women. TNBC, which is difficult to diagnose in the early stages, grows and spreads rapidly and often recurs after treatment. “The development of noninvasive or minimally invasive early detection strategies and new lines of treatment is urgently needed,” said Dr. Santanu Dasgupta, who is principal investigator of the project. Dasgupta, a cancer researcher at MCI and an assistant professor of pathology at the USA College of Medicine, will use the grant to study mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations in the blood of patients diagnosed with TNBC. Based on the findings of a previous study conducted at MCI, USA submitted a nonprovisional patent application for the development of a novel mtDNA detection platform using blood samples. The funding from NIMHD will allow Dasgupta and his team to collect blood samples from many cancer patients to test the panel of mitochondrial markers. The ultimate goal of the research is to develop an mtDNA-based simple blood test to detect cancer in the localized stage and closely monitor the patients to trace any potential spread. The test could be used alone or in combination with mammography-based screening for routine or periodic evaluation of women at risk for TNBC.