Building a Cancer Phenotype Database

Denis Wirtz, PhD, associate director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for NanoBioTechnology in Baltimore, MD, envisions a day when clinicians and researchers will routinely use searchable databases of cancer phenotypes integrated with other data as a resource in treatment decisions.

Wirtz and his colleagues at Johns Hopkins have received a $3.75-million, 5-year grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to start assembling such a phenotype database, which will link measurements of the size, shape, and other physical properties of cancer cells to genetic information, de-identified patient data, and treatment outcomes.

The project will obtain images of and data on single cells, reflecting the heterogeneity of cells even within individual tumors. Its high-throughput cell phenotyping process begins with scanning microscopy imaging of tissue samples. The crucial next step for the project, says Wirtz, is to link image information with genetic data and clinical outcomes, so that researchers and clinicians can analyze, for example, whether cancer cells with a nucleus of a certain size are more likely to develop resistance to a given drug.

Data on up to 400 descriptors of cancer cells may eventually be assembled, says Wirtz, who also directs the Johns Hopkins Physical Sciences-Oncology Center and is a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the university.

Wirtz is collaborating with Ralph Hruban, MD, and Anirban Maitra, MD, of Johns Hopkins Medicine. Initially, the project will focus on pancreatic cancer, using cells and clinical information from Johns Hopkins patients. The researchers will soon go on to gather such data from other major cancer centers in the United States and broaden the effort to include breast, prostate, and other cancers.

The long-term goal, Wirtz says, is to offer an Internet-accessible database that oncologists anywhere can employ to aid in decision making about the best course of treatment for their patients.