The fluorescent substance illuminates a mouse's lung cancer cells.
(above) and the glow has subsided 30 minutes after ethanol has been sprayed on the cancer cells.(below) (Photo courtesy of Hisataka Kobayashi, U.S. National Institutes of Health)
The fluorescent substance illuminates a mouse's lung cancer cells. (above) and the glow has subsided 30 minutes after ethanol has been sprayed on the cancer cells.(below) (Photo courtesy of Hisataka Kobayashi, U.S. National Institutes of Health)


Team develops fluorescent substance that only illuminates live cancer cells

A joint Japanese-American team has developed a fluorescent substance that only illuminates live cancer cells.

Not only does it detect cancer cells under one millimeter, it also stops glowing when the cancer cells die, allowing doctors to evaluate the efficacy of surgery and endoscopic therapy.

The team that developed the substance includes Yasuteru Urano, associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the University of Tokyo, and Hisataka Kobayashi, chief scientist at the U.S. National Institutes of Health, among others. The news appeared in the online edition of a British scientific journal, "Nature Medicine," on Sunday.

Focusing on the fact that lysosome, an organelle, has a mildly acidic pH in live cells while exhibiting neutral pH in dead cells, the researchers developed a substance that glows only under acidic conditions.

Lung cancer under one millimeter was detected and successfully removed via endoscopy after the substance was injected into a mouse with cancer that had spread from its breasts to its lungs. Furthermore, approximately 30 minutes after a spray of ethanol, which kills cancer cells, the glow had subsided, allowing researchers to confirm that the cancer cells had died. Preparations for clinical tests are underway in the U.S.

With currently available imaging technology such as positron emission tomography, it is difficult to detect cancer under one centimeter, or to determine the effects of cancer drugs soon after they are administered.

:thumb: :thumb: :thumb: good research...