Earlier Diagnosis of Liver Cancer may be Possible Via Gold Nanoparticles

by Kathy Jones on  June 26, 2011 at 6:46 PM Research News
  •   Print
  •   Share
  •   Comments
  •  Text 
 Earlier Diagnosis of Liver Cancer may be Possible Via Gold Nanoparticles
Promising results for earlier diagnosis of Hepatocellular carcinoma, which is the most common cancer to strike the liver, have been obtained by a research team led by Brown University.

In lab tests, the team used gold nanoparticles ringed by a charged polymer coating and an X-ray scatter imaging technique to spot tumour-like masses as small as 5 millimeters.

It is the first time that metal nanoparticles have been used as agents to enhance X-ray scattering signals to image tumour-like masses.

"What we're doing is not a screening method," said Christoph Rose-Petruck, professor of chemistry at Brown University and corresponding author on the paper.

"But in a routine exam, with people who have risk factors, such as certain types of hepatitis, we can use this technique to see a tumor that is just a few millimeters in diameter, which, in terms of size, is a factor of 10 smaller," added Rose-Petruck.

The team took gold nanoparticles of 10 and 50 nanometers in diameter and ringed them with a pair of 1-nanometer polyelectrolyte coatings. The coating gave the nanoparticles a charge, which increased the chances that they would be engulfed by the cancerous cells. Once engulfed, the team used X-ray scatter imaging to detect the gold nanoparticles within the malignant cells.

In lab tests, the nontoxic gold nanoparticles made up just 0.0006 percent of the cell's volume, yet the nanoparticles had enough critical mass to be detected by the X-ray scatter imaging device.

"We have shown that even with these small numbers, we can distinguish these [tumor] cells," said Rose-Petruck.

The study has been detailed in the American Chemical Society journal Nano Letters.

Source-ANI

 Email Email   RSS Feeds RSS Feeds   Print this page Print   Save this page Save   Link Link   Syndicate Syndicate   Comments Comments   Bookmark and Share
 
Comment & Contribute
Comments should be on the topic and should not be abusive. Comments are normally moderated and are reviewed after they are posted.
* Your comment can be maximum of 2500 characters

Notify me when reply is posted
I agree to the terms and conditions
  
If you have a question about health related issues, you can now post it in our Ask An Expert section on our community website Medwonders.com and get answers from our panel of experts.
X
  • Health News Index
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
News Archive
Date :
Category :
Keyword :
Quiz on Cancer
Looking for information on cancer? Go through medindia's Cancer quiz.
  • News Quick Links
News Central Health Watch
Latest Health News Health In Focus
News Category (500+) Breaking Health News
Popular News Celebrating Life
Health News and Press Release Medindia - Exclusive
News Photo Gallery India Special
News Video Gallery Lifestyle and Wellness
News From Other Resources
Cancer
Complete Medindia Resources
News Categories:  
Obesity Health Center

Research Related News

» Lack of Vitamin D in Diet Raises Stroke Risk in Japanese-Americans » Why Bovine TB Continues to Spread Demystified in New Research
» Seaweed Pill May Help Treat Arthritis » P. Aeruginosa Infection Leads to Worse Outcomes and Increased Hospitalizations in COPD Patients
» Hormone Boosts Production of Molecules Which Fight Skin Infection » Protein Discovery Could Lead To New Vaccine for Meningitis
» Qui Vive: Intense Nuclear Radiation Threat, Scientists » 'Miracle' Diet of Reverse Engineering Epilepsy
Read More >>