New technology may enable earlier cancer diagnosis: Nanoparticles amplify tumor signals, making them much easier to detect in urine
Monday, December 17, 2012 - 18:30
in Health & Medicine
Finding ways to diagnose cancer earlier could greatly improve the chances of survival for many patients. One way to do this is to look for specific proteins secreted by cancer cells, which circulate in the bloodstream. However, the quantity of these biomarkers is so low that detecting them has proven difficult. A new technology may help to make biomarker detection much easier. 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.