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I heard a talk about this technology about 4 years ago from MRI/NMR researchers at my university working on it. The big problem is getting the right biomolecule
by RK 16y ago
I heard a talk about this technology about 4 years ago from MRI/NMR researchers at my university working on it. The big problem is getting the right biomolecules that will bind with the target cancer. This is apparently a common problem in many scenarios, especially targeted therapies. Other than that the technology sounds very interesting, as you can potentially detect a single cancer cell in the sample.
- mechanical_fish 16y agoSo, as a loyal alum of a lab studying tumor vasculature, I'm contractually obligated to tell you that, alas, once you have built a biomolecule that sticks preferentially to cancer cells you must still deliver that molecule to the cells. And that is hard. It is hard because tumors have lousy blood vessel networks. Normal cells have nicely designed blood vessels an optimum distance away. Tumors do not. I'm not surprised that this study was for stomach cancer biopsy alternatives. Presumably it's relatively easy to deliver antibodies to cells that are sitting there on the lining of the stomach. And this much is a big win, no question - nobody who has actually had an invasive gastric procedure would fail to applaud the invention of a better alternative. But other cancers may be harder. Plenty of work left to do.
- RK 16y agoI think the hope is that with a few mL of blood you can find at least one cancer cell floating freely and detect that one cell. Of course by the time any cells migrate to the blood you might be at the metastatic stage for a lot of cancers (not an expert though).