The team’s activity is focused on the development of a medical device for the treatment of solid cancers (particularly breast cancer) and more generally in the study of cell migration of tumor cells in vivo and in vitro from a chemical matrix.
Our Themes
Capture and Trapping of Metastatic Cells (CAPDCM)
The treatment of solid cancers, particularly breast cancer, relies on conventional therapies such as surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and more recently, targeted therapy. Despite these advancements, it was estimated that in 2018, 627,000 women worldwide died from breast cancer. Our multidisciplinary team (biology, microfluidics, and chemistry) proposes a novel therapeutic approach targeting operable solid cancers like breast cancer.Our “attract and trap” strategy combines innovations enabling a biocompatible microfluidic chip (less than 1 cm in diameter) to attract and trap cancer cells. At the end of its active period, the implantable medical device (IMD) can be removed. The IMD will be implanted during or immediately after the biopsy. It will cover the preoperative phase (2 to 3 months), perioperative phase (2 days), and postoperative phase (2 months). During these phases, numerous tumor cells may leave the primary tumor, spread to surrounding tissues and other organs, and potentially cause patient relapse.
Development of an analytical platform for molecules and their chemical matrix in the attraction of tumor cells
In partnership with Dr. Benoît Charlot’s team (IES), Dr. Laurent Henry is developing a microfluidic chip that allows the analysis of the attracting power of up to seven chemokines, alone or in combination, in the absence or presence of a chemical matrix on human tumor cells.
Oncohematology