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Nanotechnology Enables Creation of Biomarkers for Cancer Detection

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a new technology, which enables the creation of biomarkers to diagnose cancer earlier. While biomarkers that can help identify and diagnose cancer early could greatly improve the chances of survival for many patients, there have been so few validated biomarkers and detecting them can be difficult. To address this problem, the researchers have developed nanoparticles that can home to a tumor and interact with cancer proteins to produce thousands of biomarkers, which can then be easily detected in the patient's urine. Learn more about the research, recently published in Nature Biotechnology. View recent media coverage.

Research News

Gold Nanorods Detect Ovarian Cancer, Improve Surgical Removal in Mice
Ovarian cancer is the fifth most common cancer among women, and it causes more deaths than any other type of female reproductive cancer. However, researchers at the Stanford University Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence and Translation (Stanford CCNE-T) have developed a promising new method that may be able to detect early stage ovarian cancer. In a report published in the journal ACS Nano, the team says using gold nanorods that are visible through two different types of imaging techniques may allow them to identify and successfully remove ovarian tumors.

First-Of-Its-Kind Self-Assembled Nanoparticle for Targeted and Triggered Thermo-Chemotherapy
A new study by researchers at the MIT-Harvard Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence has succeeded in designing and demonstrating the effectiveness of first-of-its-kind, self assembled, multi-functional, near-infrared (NIR) responsive gold nanorods that can deliver a chemotherapy drug specifically targeted to cancer cells and selectively release the drug in response to an external beam of light, while creating heat for synergistic thermo-chemo mediated anti-tumor efficacy. The results of this study were published by Omid Farokhzad and his colleagues in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition.

Shape Matters in DNA Nanoparticle Therapy
Researchers from The Johns Hopkins University and Northwestern University have discovered how to control the shape of nanoparticles that move DNA through the body and have shown that the shapes of these carriers may make a big difference in how well they work in treating cancer and other diseases. The results of this study, which were published in the journal Advanced Materials, are also noteworthy because this gene therapy technique does not use a virus to carry DNA into cells. This gene therapy technique does not use a virus to carry DNA into cells which could lead to a safer and more effective delivery vehicle for gene therapy targeting cancer and other illnesses.

Nanoparticles Glow through Thick Layer of Tissue
Though optical imaging is a robust and inexpensive technique commonly used in biomedical applications, current technologies lack the ability to look deep into tissue. However, an international research team has created unique photoluminescent nanoparticles that shine clearly through more than three centimeters, or more than an inch, of biological tissue, a depth that makes them a promising tool for deep-tissue optical bioimaging. This work, by a team led by Gang Han of the University of Massachusetts Medical School and Paras Prasad of the University of Buffalo, was published in the journal ACS Nano.

Nanochains Mark Micrometastases for Early Diagnosis, Treatment
A new approach that relies on targeted chain-shaped nanoparticles that can be detected using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has proven to detect metastases in mouse models of breast cancer far earlier than current methods. This could be a step toward earlier detection and treatment which could be used to guide surgery or thermal ablation, or the same technology used to find cancer could be used to deliver cancer-killing drugs directly to the cells before a tumor forms. Efstathios Karathanasis and his team published their findings in the journal ACS Nano.

Nano-Enabled Paper Detects Kidney Cancer Markers
Kidney cancer, which accounts for three percent of all adult cancers, is a silent killer. It presents with few symptoms until it has spread throughout the body, at which point the disease is largely fatal. Using common laboratory filter paper coated with antibody-labeled gold nanorods, a team of investigators at Washington University in St. Louis has developed a rapid and inexpensive method for detecting biomarkers of kidney cancer in urine. Srikanth Singamaneni and his collaborators published their findings in the journal Analytical Chemistry.

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