A blue liquid injected into a cancerous area illuminates cancer cells much more brightly than healthy tissue, giving surgeons a better chance of removing the entire malignancy at once, according to CBS News.
Microscopic cancer is often left behind after surgery, which prompts the need for follow-up operations or radiation and chemotherapy.
The work so far
Researchers at the Duke University School of Medicine have conducted early trials using both mice and 15 human patients as test subjects; all were diagnosed with breast cancer or soft-tissue sarcoma. The blue liquid, known as LUM015, was injected directly into a region near cancer cells and spread into tumors, but not healthy tissue. The researchers believe the LUM015 is attracted to protease, an enzyme found in malignant cells that may be tied to cancer growth.
After surgeons remove the tumor tissue, a hand-held imaging probe is used to examine the site. Any cancer cells remaining glow about five times brighter than healthy tissue and can be removed.
“This imaging technique is meant to help the surgeon see the cancer during the operation, to avoid the patient having to go in for a second operation,” said senior author David Kirsch, a Duke professor.
Study results were published in Science Translational Medicine. The Duke researchers are collaborating with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Lumicell, a company created by those MIT researchers.
Cancer surgeons now use cross-sectional imaging – MRIs and CT scans – as a guide when they remove tumors and adjacent tissue, according to medicalxpress.com. However, that can have limitations.
“At the time of surgery, a pathologist can examine the tissue for cancer cells at the edge of the tumor using a microscope, but because of the size of cancer it’s impossible to review the entire surface during surgery,” Kirsch said.
If the new method is successful, knowing where residual cancer cells are located can make radiation therapy more effective – or even reduce the amount of radiation required, Brian Brigman, chief of orthopedic oncology at Duke, told medicalxpress.com.
No side effects have emerged thus far with the new method.
On the mice, the researchers have performed real-time removal of cancer cells identified by the technique. With human patients, the team only has examined already-removed tumor tissue.
Follow-up trials are underway involving 50 breast cancer patients. Kirsch said the technology could be available by 2017.
Those follow-ups will likely try to improve how well LUM015 attaches to cancer cells, according to a January 7 article from TIME. There also are questions as to whether LUM015 can penetrate deeper into tissues where cancer is hiding or if it can only reach easily accessible cells.
Other efforts
Similar techniques are being explored by other medical teams, according to Medical News Today.
For example, researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are developing high-tech glasses that can assist surgeons in distinguishing between cancer cells and healthy tissues. These glasses make cancer cells injected with a fluorescent marker glow blue under a special light; the more concentrated the cells are, the lighter the color.
