New system for early cancer diagnosis
ChemPort.Ru based on RSC materials: A new system for cancer detectionExisting methods of diagnosing tumor diseases are based on an invasive biopsy method or the determination of biomarkers, both methods, alas, give unambiguous results only when the disease has already developed sufficiently.
Researchers from South Korea have developed a simple and non-invasive method for detecting cancer cells that can speed up the early diagnosis of malignant tumors, giving patients a much better chance of a favorable prognosis for the treatment of a deadly disease.
Tumor cells differ from normal cells in a number of features, including the composition and structure of their membranes. It was found that the membranes of cancer cells contain more anionic lipids than the shells of healthy cells. This circumstance leads to the fact that a significant negative charge is localized on the surface of tumor cells. Yoon-Bo Shim decided to use this feature of cancer cells to develop a diagnostic method based on the use of daunomycin, an antitumor drug that is known to interact with anionic lipids.
The detection system is based on the use of a daunomycin-specific aptamer forming a strong covalent bond with a layer of an electrically conductive polymer. This polymer layer is deposited on the surface of gold nanoparticles, in turn, deposited on the surface of the electrode. In the tested solution, daunomycin binds to cancer cells, after which the cell-drug complex is intercepted by an aptamer. As a result, it becomes possible to quantify and very selectively determine cancer cells through electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and fluorescence microscopy.
Pwm emphasizes that the detection limit is exceptional – high accuracy and selectivity in the detection of dangerous cells can be achieved using simple and cheap equipment and, if possible, double control due to electrochemical and fluorescent methods. Shim hopes that the method he developed will become the basis for rapid diagnosis of cancer diseases by analyzing the patient's biological fluids, for example, blood.
Annela Seddon, an expert on the interaction of drugs with cell membranes from the University of Bristol, notes that if clinical trials show that the new technique will be able to identify a small number of dangerous cells in the "broth" of this sample, it has every chance to become a reliable and powerful tool in the arsenal of currently existing methods of diagnosing cancer diseases.
Visualized by fluorescence microscopy
interaction of daunomycin with tumor cells
In the future, researchers from the Shima group plan to test the developed system in "field conditions" – real clinical practice. The researchers also plan to study other anti-cancer drugs with potentially useful types of interaction with cells. It is possible that new drugs will allow the development of new types of early cancer diagnosis.
The article by Pranjal Chandra, Hui-Bog Noh and Yoon-Bo Shim Cancer cell detection based on the interaction between an anticancer drug and cell membrane components is published in the journal Chemical Communications.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru15.02.2013