MDNews - Greater Boston

The Light Has Turned on for Cancer Detection By Michael Ferguson FLUoresCenCe ProVes a noteWortHY Boon For CLInICIans In tHe HIDe-anD-seeK GaMe oF CanCer DeteCtIon, anD Its FUtUre IMPLICatIons MaY LeaD to Less InVasIVe anD More eFFeCtIVe MetHoDs For sCreenInG anD ProGnosIs. h PhD, Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Investigator at the Biofrontier Institute at the University of Colorado Boulder, and Neil Renwick, MD, PhD, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Laboratory of RNA Molecular Biology, The Rockefeller University, are currently pursuing different ways of using fluorescence to detect, identify type and characteristics such as chemoresistance of, and accurately stage the disease. aNg h u b e rT yiN , for better detection "One of our interests is in using novel, fluorescence-based techniques to detect not only cancer — [but], particularly, really dangerous and harmful cancers," Yin says. Recently published studies of ovarian and prostate cancer screening processes show traditional methods have not only proven largely ineffective at early detection, but have often led to harmful preventive measures, such as surgery, chemotherapy or radiation, that likely were unnecessary. "We believe that we face not only a diagnostic challenge, but a prognostic one as well," Yin says. "We need to be able to evaluate whether or not cancer cells will become metastatic and travel to other parts of the body, such as the brain." 14 | Greater Boston MD News ■ mdNews.Com Yin's research has led him and his team to examine the utility of noninvasive cancer biomarkers — substances found in the body that enable clinicians to track biological processes, such as diseases, and predict potential outcomes — to more effectively detect and stage cancer without a series of painful and invasive tests or inconvenient screening methods. To do so, Yin turned to submicroscopic particles. attaching a Target From their surfaces, cells shed extremely small nanoparticles called microvesicles, which then circulate in the blood. Although everyone produces microvesicles, these tiny cellular effluvia are found in higher numbers when cancer begins to metastasize. "When cancer becomes metastatic, the number of shed microvesicles increases, and [they] can be found in the blood, urine and other biological fluids," Yin explains. "We thought it would be beneficial to try to track these because they correlate with the propensity of cancer to metastasize to another site." But microvesicles are nanoparticles — which have diameters of less than 100 nanometers — and cannot be seen even with an optical microscope. So, Yin and his team had to devise a way to illuminate these submicroscopic particles.

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