A
good, economical technique for detecting breast cancer
Whenever
breast cancer is thought to be present, a biopsy is performed. But this is
intrusive, uncomfortable, and expensive. Additionally, it takes a few days to
receive the findings. In the future, a liquid biopsy of a patient's blood might
be used to make a diagnosis. This approach is painless, economical, and
produces results in a matter of hours. This novel approach is being developed
by a group of researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer
Research IAP.
A
biopsy is typically required if a patient's breast contains a suspicious lump,
and the procedure entails the removal of small samples of the mass's tissue for
laboratory testing. It is crucial to determine whether the suspicious lump is a
benign change in the tissue or a tumour, which would indicate a sickness. The
wait time for findings is now several days for patients. Additionally, a biopsy
is pricy, uncomfortable, and risky because it is an invasive procedure that could
result in tissue damage or an infection of the wound.
Quick
and painless biomarker detection in body fluids
The
typical breast cancer biopsy and all of its drawbacks will be rendered
obsolete, according to researchers at the Fraunhofer Center for Applied
Nanotechnology (CAN), a research branch of Fraunhofer IAP in Hamburg. "In
the LIBIMEDOTS project, we are working on detecting breast cancer via
circulating tumour cells," says Dr Neus Feliu Torres, who has been in
charge of the "Nanocellular Interactions" working group at Fraunhofer
IAP via an Attract programme since July 2020. "We are working with Spain's
Universitat Rovira I Virgili, Universität Hamburg, and the Medical Center
Hamburg-Eppendorf." Numerous tumour cells may enter the bloodstream and
other physiological fluids if there is a tumour in the body, such as in the
breast. There are many benefits if these cells can be found there rather than
by performing a tumour sample. First off, the procedure requires only a small
amount of blood from the patient, which makes it gentle. Second, the outcomes
are accessible in a matter of hours. The research team believes that by
adopting this strategy, it will be feasible to evaluate the efficacy of a
treatment in addition to more quickly and gently identifying early-stage breast
malignancies.
Detection
and Enrichment of Malignant cells
The
two pillars on which the examination principle is built. In order to be
discovered, the first method entails enhancing the tumour cells in the blood.
"Tumor cells are only one in a million of the total number of somatic
cells in the blood. As a result, they are very challenging to locate and
identify "Feliu Torres says. The Fraunhofer team is creating magnetic
nanoparticles to enhance tumour cells. With the help of this payload, a
magnetic field can gather and concentrate the tumour cells. The second pillar
is the targeted detection of enhanced tumour cells by attaching fluorescent
particles to their surface. "This enables us to specifically bind
fluorescent particles to the tumour cells' surface. They then glow so brightly
that only a few tumour cells are required to establish proof "the chemist
and medical scientist adds. It is insufficient to employ a single type of
fluorescent particle since the circulating tumour cells differ from patient to
patient. To find the tumour cells, the team is therefore creating a variety of
different particles with distinct binding capabilities. As a result, the
detection procedure will be speedier, more precise, sensitive, and
cost-effective.