Research grant could cut NHS costs

Researchers in Sheffield have secured a substantial grant from the USA to develop a test for oral cancer which could eventually save the NHS thousands of pounds

A new test for oral cancer, which a dentist could perform by simply using a brush to collect cells from a patient’s mouth, is set to be developed by researchers at the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

The international research team, involving scientists in Sheffield, has been awarded $2million from the USA’s National Institutes of Health to develop the test, which could provide an accurate diagnosis in less than 20 minutes for lesions where there is a suspicion of oral cancer.

The current procedure used to detect oral cancer in a suspicious lesion involves using a scalpel to perform a biopsy and off-site laboratory tests which can be time consuming. The new test will involve removing cells with a brush, placing them on a chip, and inserting the chip into the analyser, leading to a result in 8-10 minutes. This will have a number of benefits including cutting waiting times and the number of visits, and also cost savings for the NHS.

The project is being led by Professor John McDevitt from Rice University, USA, who has developed the novel micro-chip. This new technology uses the latest techniques in microchip design, nanotechnology, microfluids, image analysis, pattern recognition and biotechnology to shrink many of the main functions of a state-of-the-art clinical pathology laboratory onto a nano-bio-chip the size of a credit card.

The team in Sheffield, led by Professor Martin Thornhill, Professor of Oral Medicine at the University of Sheffield and a Consultant in Oral Medicine at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, has begun carrying out clinical trials on patients at Charles Clifford Dental Hospital for two years to perfect the technology and make it as sensitive as possible. If the trials confirm that the new technology is effective at carrying out a biopsy then it could become a regular application at dentist surgeries in the future.

Professor Thornhill says: “We have just started to recruit patients to a study that is designed to ensure that the new technology is at least as good as the old method at distinguishing these different types of lesion. Ultimately, dentists and doctors may be able to use this technology to check suspicious lesions in the mouth and reassure the vast majority of patients that they haven’t got cancer without even having to send them to the hospital."

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