IGF::OT::IGF OTHER FUNCTIONS RandD- MEDICAL: BIOMEDICAL (BASIC RESEARCH), MULTI-BIOMARKER IMAGING USING QUANTUM DOTS FOR PREDICTION OF HPV-ASSOCIATED CANCER

The goal of this project is to develop multiple-biomarker imaging for detection of human papillomavirus (HPV) associated human cancer. Quantum dots (QDs) with multiple emission colors were chosen as optical probes to label the biomarkers on tissue. Attribute to the unique optical properties of QDs, they can be used as powerful cancer diagnostic tools providing the molecular profiles of cancer cases based on common clinical biopsies and allowing the tumor cell detection and analysis in highly heterogenous samples and rare cell populations. In Phase I study technical issues have been solved, such as optical stability of fluorescence intensity of QDs under light irradiation, binding stability of QD-antibody conjugates on tissue during the staining process, imaging process method and optical readers. To develop practicable clinical products, there are some remaining issues will be resolved in this continuation Phase II studies. Our SBIR team assembled material sCientist, cancer biologist, pathologist, oncologist, and imaging expert to address the key issues in the quantification of the expression level of HPV-associated biomarker. Aim 1 is to identify additional HPV-specific biomarker to improving prediction power as compared to using p16 alone. Aim 2is to optimize QD product and construction and validation of 3 pairs of antibody-hapten and hapten-QD conjugates for detection of HPV-associated cancer. Aim 3 is to optimize the staining and quantification procedure using the QD-based 3 marker system. Aim 4 is to standardize operating procedure and perform final validations for clinical application.