A new study has revealed that cancer detecting gold nanoparticles can also identify signals from cancer cells. The studies show that gold nanoparticles identify the extracellular vesicles (EV’s) present in the bloodstream. This, in turn, will enable to detect cancer at early stages and prevent further damage to the body because of cancer.
The function of EV’s
Constantly discharging nanoparticles from cancer cells and health cells are called EV’s. Therefore, EV’s enable communication between the cells. Precisely, they are tiny bubbles that transport DNA, proteins, and other molecules between the cells. Cancer cells make use of nanoparticles to exploit the cells around them as well as exploit the entire immune system.
The advantage of gold
Gold emerges a winner because is that it helps differentiate between healthy EVs and cancer EV’s, which are plenty in the bloodstream. In this process, the gold nanoparticles discharge a distinctive signal when hit with laser light. This, in turn, identifies a patient specific EV fingerprint and therefore is differentiable from cancer signals.
The researchers were able to perfectly identify the presence of cancer EV’s in the blood samples. In addition, they were also able to ideally track EV changes as well. All this was identified in a study conducted on 23 melanoma patients by the researchers. This great research is a new feather in the cap for cancer detection technology sector. This is a path breaking technology that has the potential to offer cost effective cancer diagnosis. This technology can save a lot of money. Consequently, we can expect to see this technology to become a common feature of every doctor’s office or hospital soon.
