Finding cancer in the future could one day be as easy as plugging in a Lite-Brite. According to Live Science, cancer cells might one day be identified in the body by shining a laser at the body and seeing cancerous cell light up.
Nanostars, a new type of nanoparticle, have been developed by researchers to build up in tumor cells and disperse light, which makes the tumors easy to see with a special camera.
Surface-enhanced resonance Raman scattering (SERRS) nanoparticles are 140 nanometers (0.000005 inches) across and shaped like an eight-point star, according to the study published in the Jan. 21 issue of Science Translational Medicine. The shape is important for the distribution of light. The stars are made of gold, enrobed in dye and sheathed in a silica and polymer sphere.
Only cancerous cells are porous enough to allow nanostars in, so non-cancerous cells won't be infiltrated nor will the nanostars leak into other organs, Dr. Moritz Kircher, a molecular imaging specialist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, told Live Science.
The nanostars were tested on mice that had the particles injected into their bloodstreams. Cancerous cells - and even precancerous cells - lit up when the mice were scanned by an infrared laser.
Kircher told Live Science that he was surprised when the precancerous cells lit up. It was believed that precancerous cells developed larger pores, like cancer cells, but it was only suspected and never witnessed.
Nanostars could be a breakthrough for cancers that are hard to detect, like liposarcoma, a cancer that occurs in fat cells.
"You go in, and open up the abdomen, say, and see all that fat," Kircher told Live Science. "You see some streaks that look abnormal, but don't know where [edges] of the tumor are. So doctors either have to take out all of the tissue that might possibly contain cancer, or risk leaving some cancerous cells in the body."
Nanostars would work for any kind of cancer - they do not need to be customized for each cancer type or location, but they still need to be tested for toxicity. Animal studies will be used.
