Patients and doctors often don’t know if surgery to remove cancerous tissue was successful until scans are performed months later. A new kind of nanoparticle could show patients if they’re in the clear much earlier.
The nanoparticles—dubbed nanoflares—attach themselves to individual cancer cells in a blood sample and then glow, allowing cancerous cells to be detected and sorted with the help of a laser. Since different types of cancer cells—some of which are far more lethal than others—can be detected and collected using the technique, and since those cells can then be cultured in a dish, the nanoparticles may also make it easier to test potential treatments before giving them to patients.
Image: Cancer cells with specific genes glow red once infiltrated by novel nanoparticles (left). The nanoparticles don’t glow in cells without the gene (right).
