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Cancer
Prostate Cancer Test: New Test For Prostate Cancer
In a recent e-alert I told you about how difficult it is to detect prostate cancer. Fortunately, a brand new testing procedure looks set to completely revolutionise how prostate cancer is detected.
Looking to the light
Researchers from the Jonsson Cancer Center at UCLA, in the US, have just released a report that explains how they created a way to literally light up prostate cancer cells and then find them with special imaging technology.
Their process developed in three steps. First they engineered a virus that recognizes the PSA protein that is only present in prostate cancer cells. In step two the researchers attached luciferase (the substance that creates the glow in fireflies) to the virus which then was injected into tumour-bearing laboratory mice. The virus in effect went looking for the prostate cancer cells, and the luciferase lit them up when they were found.
In the final step they used an advanced, non-invasive imaging technology to not only find illuminated cancer cells, but also to track them as they spread to the lungs and spine. With this imaging technique, the researchers were also able to spot the presence of cancer cells that were still not advanced enough to either trigger symptoms or be detected by conventional methods.
Next step: precise therapy
The UCLA team hopes that in the next step of their research they may be able to attach gene-based therapies to the virus so that they can target and treat only the prostate cancer cells. In a UCLA press release, lead author of the study, Lily Wu, said 'The idea would be to deliver a toxic gene to the cancer that would not harm surrounding healthy cells.'
Wu and her colleagues are also confident that it's only a matter of time before they're able to accomplish this same type of prostate cancer cell detection in humans. For human subjects, however, a different sort of imaging system will be required, so another team of researchers at UCLA is already developing the next generation of imaging technology, helped considerably by a huge grant, awarded by the National Cancer Institute.
We'll keep you posted on this new technology as we learn more.
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