Tuesday, 10th May 2005 (4071 views)

A groundbreaking project at the Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT) has discovered that nanoparticles of gold could help detect cancerous cells.

The Laser Dynamics Laboratory (LDL) found that the gold nanoparticles could make cancerous cells "shine" by showing up the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EFGR), a protein usually found all over the surface of cancerous cells.

By binding the gold nanoparticles to an antibody for EFGR, known as anti-EFGR, researchers managed to make the nanoparticles attach themselves to the cancer cells and show them up.

"If you add this conjugated nanoparticle solution to healthy cells and cancerous cells and you look at the image, you can tell with a simple microscope that the whole cancer cell is shining," Mostafa El-Sayed, director of the LDL and chemistry professor at GIT.

"The healthy cell doesn't bind to the nanoparticles specifically, so you don't see where the cells are. With this technique, if you see a well defined cell glowing, that's cancer."

The system offers numerous benefits, the researchers claim: it requires only a simple, inexpensive microscope and white light; the results are instantaneous, and it is not toxic to human cells.

 

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