Titles and Affiliations
Professor of Research in Biological Sciences
Deputy Director, Convergent Science Institute in Cancer
USC Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience
Research area
Applying blood biopsy technology to understand cancer progression and find predictive markers that indicate how cancer will react to treatment.
Impact
Liquid biopsy, a blood test that detects cancer cells and other tumor-associated factors, is a promising, less-invasive alternative to tumor biopsy. In addition to more readily providing information about a patient’s cancer, its minimally invasive nature means several samples can be taken over time. This would allow clinicians to have real-time data on a tumor’s response to therapy, informing treatment decisions and potentially revolutionize the way cancer is managed. Liquid biopsies are not currently available for widespread clinical applications, but Drs. Hicks and Kuhn and their teams are pushing this new technology to expand the scope of what information can be derived from patient blood and exploring its potential in early detection as well as predicting cancer progression and recurrence.
Progress Thus Far
Rather than focusing only on tumor DNA in the blood, as many current liquid biopsy approaches do, Drs. Hicks and Kuhn’s team studies the full range of cells and cell-related material circulating in blood, which may capture a fuller picture of how breast cancer grows, spreads, and responds to treatment. The team advanced their imaging and computational tools to detect and analyze rare, cancer-related cells and particles in blood at the level of individual cells, expanding their ability to identify not just tumor cells but also related cell types that may reflect how a tumor interacts with the body and behaves over time. The team is also processing more than 350 patient blood samples across retrospective and prospective studies, including the INTERCEPT studies, which are focused on developing a blood test designed to work alongside mammography for earlier breast cancer detection. This work is helping build the datasets needed to determine whether these blood-based cellular patterns are linked to disease state, recurrence, treatment response, and risk.
What’s next
The team will expand their analyses across larger patient groups to determine which cellular patterns are linked to treatment response, recurrence, and markers of aggressive disease. They will continue their prospective INTERCEPT studies in women at increased risk, including in populations disproportionately affected by breast cancer disparities, to test whether these blood-based signals can be detected earlier in the disease course. Finally, the team will work to integrate cellular, blood plasma, and clinical information into patient-level models, with the goal of developing a blood test that can help classify a patient’s breast cancer and guide more personalized care.
Biography
James Hicks, PhD is a molecular geneticist using genomics to study the initiation and progression of cancer in human patients with the goal of developing clinical assays for improving the treatment of the disease. His current studies expand on his previous work on the development of single cell genomic analysis in two important areas: first, to define the degree and mechanisms of cancer heterogeneity and response to therapy in breast and other solid tumors; and second, to apply single cell sequencing technology to fluid biopsies, procedures that can identify cancer cells in blood, bone marrow or even urine. These minimally invasive procedures provide the means to monitor cancer treatment sequentially while treatment is underway, to understand what changes take place in response to treatment and to alter treatment, when necessary, a crucial component of the next generation of precision oncology.
Dr. Hicks has recently joined the newly formed Institute for Convergent Science at the University of Southern California in 2015 and will split his appointment between USC and Cold Spring Harbor for the next academic year. His career has been split between academics and the biotechnology industry, co-founding several successful companies, and co-authoring over 100 research publications and 8 patent applications.
Dr. Hicks serves on the Board of Directors of a public company (NASDAQ: BBSI) and is a Co-founder and Director of two privately held companies. He is also a scientific advisor to several early-stage biotechnology companies.
