Abstract 5326: Quantitative molecular profiling of biomarkers for pancreatic cancer with quantum dots

Abstract

Abstract The detection of cancer biomarkers is important for diagnosis, disease stage forecasting, and clinical management. Since tumor populations are inherently heterogeneous, a key challenge is the quantitative profiling of membrane biomarkers, rather than secreted biomarkers, at the single cell level. The detection of cancer biomarkers is also important for imaging and therapeutics since membrane proteins are commonly selected as targets. Many methods for detection of membrane proteins yield ensemble averages and hence have limited application for analysis of heterogeneous populations or single cells. Fluorescence-based methods allow detection at the single cell level, however, photobleaching presents a major limitation in obtaining quantitative information. Quantum dots overcome the limitations associated with photobleaching, however, the development of quantum dot – antibody (QD-Ab) conjugates that allow quantitative profiling of biomarkers has remained challenging. Here we demonstrate quantitative in vitro profiling and multiplexing of molecular biomarkers associated with precursor lesions of pancreatic adenocarcinoma using QD-Ab conjugates. We demonstrate quantitative spatial profiling of several biomarkers for pancreatic cancer, including mesothelin, prostate stem cell antigen, and claudin-4 in several pancreatic cancer cell lines and a normal pancreas cell line. We also show tumor targeting in a mouse model. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5326. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-5326