Pancreatic Cancer Surgery: MasSpec Pen Demonstrates Potential for Medical Breakthrough
The MasSpec Pen, a groundbreaking diagnostic tool, has the capability to identify tissues and surgical margins directly in patients, making a significant impact on the treatment of pancreatic cancer. This innovative technology was developed by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin, who are committed to transparency and disclosure of all potential conflicts of interest.
The development of the MasSpec Pen was supported by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Livia Schiavinato Eberlin, the lead researcher, has submitted required financial disclosure forms with the university, and she is a co-founder with an equity stake in MSP Technologies, an inventor-led startup formed to commercialize the MasSpec Pen technology, owned by the university.
The MasSpec Pen has been tested in more than 150 human surgeries to date, including for breast and thyroid. It has now been tested for the first time in pancreatic cancer patients during surgery. The technology can differentiate healthy and cancerous tissue from banked pancreas samples, and it is more than 100 times as fast as the current gold standard diagnostic, Frozen Section Analysis.
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, the most common type of pancreatic cancer, spreads rapidly and has a five-year survival rate of 9% for all stages. Determining the margin between healthy and cancerous tissue is critical to a successful pancreatic cancer surgery. The MasSpec Pen technology opens the door for real-time, precision medicine to be performed in the operating room.
The MasSpec Pen results, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, show the technology works in the clinic for surgical guidance. The company that licensed the MasSpec Pen diagnostic device invented by the University of Texas and Baylor College of Medicine is called Genio Bio. The research was also supported by the Cooperative Human Tissue Network and Baylor.
Preclinical research published about the MasSpec Pen in 2017 led to widespread enthusiasm and interest. The DOI for this research is 10.1073/pnas.210441118. Livia Eberlin receives support for research in her lab from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas.
This breakthrough in cancer diagnostics has the potential to improve outcomes for patients with pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest forms of the disease. The MasSpec Pen represents a significant step forward in the fight against cancer, offering a more accurate, efficient, and less invasive method for identifying and removing cancerous tissue during surgery.
