A team of scientists from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Cornell University have created a new kind of particles that will be used for molecular imaging. The researchers said that these particles are completely safe and stable, and small enough to be easily transported through the body structures. They are called C dots.
“Highly sensitive and specific probes and molecular imaging strategies are critical to ensure the earliest possible detection of a tumor and timely response to treatment,” said one of the main authors, Michelle Bradbury, MD/PhD, a physician-scientist specializing in molecular imaging and neuroradiology at MSKCC. “Our findings may now be translated to the investigation of tumor targeting and treatment in the clinic, with the goal of ultimately helping physicians to better tailor treatment to a patient’s individual tumor.”
Experiments on mice showed that this particle platform can be customized to target surface receptors on tumor cells or even cells within the tumor. “Importantly, the ability to define patients that express certain types of molecules on their tumor surfaces will serve as an initial step towards improving treatment management and individualizing medical care,” said Dr. Bradbury.
The C dots have been created at Cornell University and modified at MSKCC. They have been optimized for use in optical and PET imaging and can be tailored to any particle size without adversely impacting its fluorescent properties. For the first time, researchers were able to make them small enough (in the 5 nanometer range) to remain in the bloodstream for a reasonable amount of time and be efficiently excreted by the kidneys. Researchers were also able to increase their brightness by 300 percent, enabling cancer cells to be tracked for longer periods of time in the body.
The study authors say that the new generation of nanoparticles holds enormous clinical promise, but also note that more work needs to be done before C dots are approved for use in humans.
Source: mskcc.org / eurekalert.org
