Today in TechGlowing cancer cells make tumor removal easier
Gone are the days when the only things that glow in the dark are toys. In recent times, glow in the dark methods are used to make headway in science and medicine. Take for example, the glowing cat and dog made to help with AIDS and genetics research respectively. In the Netherlands, surgeons used a method that makes cancer cells glow to perform the first fluorescence-aided ovarian cancer surgery. The procedure is part of the first phase of a clinical trial that evaluates the fluorescence technology.
Invented by Professor Philip Low from Purdue University, the technology enables surgeons to see cancer cell clusters as small as 1/10 of a millimeter in diameter. Without it, the smallest clusters surgeons can see average 3 millimeters in diameter only. Patients undergoing the surgery are injected with the fluorescent imaging agent a couple of hours before the procedure. The surgeons then use a multispectral fluorescence camera that shows glowing cells on a screen.
Low says, "Ovarian cancer is notoriously difficult to see, and this technique allowed surgeons to spot a tumor 30 times smaller than the smallest they could detect using standard techniques." Due to this, participating surgeons find an average of 34 tumors in their patients as opposed to the usual seven tumors doctors find. And, of course, the more tumors are removed from the body, the better a patient responds to chemotherapy.
Low's method makes ovarian cancer cells glow by taking advantage of the folate receptors on the surface of the cells. The receptors absorb vitamins from the body so the cancer cells can grow, and Low used this trait to infuse the cancer cells with green dye. Hence, ovarian cancer which has an 85% rate of folate receptors (the highest among all cancers) is perfect for the the clinical study.
But as not all types of cancer cells have folate receptors, Low plans to find a way to target other molecules to which the dye can attach. He's also working on a red dye that can let doctors see deeper through tissues, and can glow bright enough that it can be seen through the skin. If successful, imagine how much it can advance perhaps not only cancer treatment, but the field of medicine at large.
[Purdue University via NewScientist]
Article by Mariella Moon
This article originally appeared on Tecca
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