Deep imaging technology that can illuminate the body with infrared light and noninvasively observe buried cancer tumors is born
Stanford chemists have developed a new deep imaging technology that can brightly illuminate buried tumors in cancer patients. By using this technique,
Stanford chemist develop 'infrared vision' for cancer immunotherapy
https://news.stanford.edu/press-releases/2019/10/03/infrared-vision-immunotherapy/
The latest research published in the September 30, 2019 issue of the journal Nature Biotechnology is a new deep imaging technology useful for examining cancer patients' response to immunotherapy and tracking their progress after treatment. It was announced.
This technology was developed by a research team led by Professor Hongjie Dai , an applied physicist at Stanford University. He said, 'This technology is erbium rely on nano-particles containing the element. Erbium is an element that has been highly appreciated by chemists its own characteristics that emits light in the infrared, the so-called rare-earth element 1 is a kind of' he said It is.
by Casey Horner
By covering the erbium-containing nanoparticles with a chemically designed coating, it helps the nanoparticles dissolve in the bloodstream, reducing toxicity and promoting faster release from the body. In addition, the nanoparticle coating seems to help find and attach specific proteins on cells, and it is described as “acting like a guided missile” against cancer cells.
The study illuminates mice that have ingested nanoparticles containing erbium with low-power LED lights, causing the blood vessels in the mouse to emit light, and target tissues (tumors) or individual cells are much higher than conventional imaging techniques Succeeded in observing with resolution. Yeteng Zhong, the first author of the study and a postdoctoral researcher at Dai's lab, said, “Our deep imaging technology has developed imaging depth, molecular specificity and multiplicity, and spatial・ The combination of temporal resolutions is at a level that cannot be achieved with conventional methods. ”
In the following movie, you can see a real mouse ingesting nanoparticles and illuminating the brain blood vessels with infrared light. The blood vessels in the brain of the mouse are emitting blue-green light, and Zhuoran Ma, who participated in the study, said, “With our approach, we can see the brain of an intact mouse. I could only see the scalp when I left it. '
Mouse brain illuminated by infrared vision-YouTube
The research team succeeded in identifying tumors in mice that are vulnerable to anticancer drugs that activate the immune system using this deep imaging technology. Therefore, it is possible to provide a “non-invasive method” that can identify affected areas that respond to drugs without having to perform “ biopsy ” to collect and examine some of the lesions that are required by existing methods. In addition, by using erbium nanoparticles, it is possible to observe the progress of patients after cancer treatment and continuously observe whether the tumor is responding to drugs or whether the tumor is shrinking.
The research team says that this deep imaging technology can also help surgeons to remove tumors more accurately, and biologists and medical researchers to study basic processes in cells.
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