American scientists have developed a technique using tiny gold particles attached to antibodies to detect cancer cells.
A father-son duo is collaborating on a technical issue involving the use of tiny gold particles (gold nanoparticles) attached to antibodies for the detection of cancer cells.
The son, Dr. Ivan El-Saied, is a medical doctor and a professor at the University of California, San Francisco, specializing in otolaryngology. The father, Dr. Mostafa El-Sayed, is a chemist and a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, as well as the director of the Laser Dynamics Laboratory.
The researchers utilize nano-sized gold particles because gold strongly absorbs light and is easily identifiable under a microscope.
These particles are attached to antibodies of the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR). Results show that the gold nanoparticles attached to EFGR antibodies adhere strongly to cancer cells, 600 times more than they attach to healthy non-cancer cells.
Nano Particles
This technique allows for the searching and distinguishing of cancer cells from healthy cells. In other words, using tiny gold particles attached to antibodies can help easily locate cancer cells.
The method is so sensitive that it can detect a single tiny gold particle shimmering under a microscope. Gold colloids do not harm the cells in the patient’s body.
Many other research projects are also applying nano particles in disease diagnosis and treatment. In a recent study, Dr. Youqing Shen and colleagues at the University of Wyoming used nanoparticles loaded with cancer treatment drugs and delivered them into cancer cells so quickly that the immune system could not respond in time.
At the same time, cancer cells did not react to the chemotherapy drugs promptly. Once inside the cancer cells, these particles dissolve quickly, releasing the drug inside the cancer cell and destroying the cancer cell.
This research focuses on ovarian cancer cells, a type of cancer that is very difficult to treat, as well as many other cancers.
