A new technology consisting of gold nanoparticles can detect extracellular vesicles of cancer in a blood sample. Anew blood test, in which they use such particles to detect cancer, identifies signals released by cancer cells. Accordingly, these could lead to earlier diagnosis and better treatment.
Cancer diagnostics using gold nanoparticles
So new research has found that nanotechnology developed by scientists at the University of Queenslandextracellular vesicles(EVs) in the bloodstream can be detected and monitored. Australian Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) researcher Jing Wang said the discovery could lead to more effective, personalized cancer therapy by allowing oncologists to quickly determine how treatment is progressing.
Vesicles are an exciting next generation of potential biomarkers in blood. These are primarily nanoparticles that are constantly emitted by health cells and cancer cells. This enables cell-to-cell communication. They are like tiny bubbles that carry cargo such as DNA, proteins and other molecules between cells. This charge reveals a lot about what is going on in the cell. Cancer cells use the gold nanoparticles to manipulate other cells around them. They also manipulate and suppress the immune system in this way.
In collaboration with oncologists Andreas Behren and Professor Jonathan Cebon, the researchers tested the technology on blood samples from patients with melanoma. This was able to detect the presence of cancer-related nanoparticles. They thus tracked critical changes during and after treatment. However, scientists find it difficult to distinguish such particles from the others. Healthy cells emit them, making them more common in the bloodstream.
“The technology combines two completely new approaches in a clinical setting for possible treatment monitoring,” said Dr. Wuethrich. “We used an electrically activated nano-fluidic chip that allows us to detect only cancer-emitted nanoparticles.
Medical perspectives
“We coupled this with a special type of gold nanoparticles that bind to antibodies and stick to molecules that we only find on the surface of cancer cells.”
The particle technology emits a unique signal when laser light hits it. Medicine can use this to capture an EV fingerprint specific to the patient. With the help of collaborators, scientists tested the technology on blood samples from 23 patients with melanoma. The new device accurately detected cancer EVs in the blood samples and successfully tracked how the cancer EV fingerprint changed in response to therapy for each patient.
“Our technology can reveal changes in the cancer EV fingerprint, allowing rapid identification of whether a therapy is working or whether drug resistance is emerging,” said Ms. Wang. “This could guide cancer therapy in real time.”
The research team has previously shown that doctors can use the gold nanoparticles to detect circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and unique DNA fragments released by cancer cells. In theStudythey show that research can also detect these EVs using these nanoparticles. This adds an important new weapon to the cancer detection arsenal.
