Tumor cells that spread cancer via the bloodstream face a new foe: a
laser beam, shined from outside the skin, that finds and kills these
metastatic little demons on the spot.
In a study published today in Science Translational Medicine,
researchers revealed that their system accurately detected these cells
in 27 out of 28 people with cancer, with a sensitivity that is about 1,000 times better than current technology. That’s an achievement in itself, but the research team was also able to kill a high percentage of the cancer-spreading cells, in real time, as they raced through the veins of the participants.
If developed further, the tool could give doctors a harmless,
noninvasive, and thorough way to hunt and destroy such cells before
those cells can form new tumors in the body. “This technology has the
potential to significantly inhibit metastasis progression,” says
Vladimir Zharov, director of the nanomedicine center at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, who led the research.
The spreading of cancer, or metastasis, is the primary cause of
cancer-related death. Cancer spreads when cells from primary tumors
break off and travel through the bloodstream and lymph system, settling
in new areas of the body and forming secondary tumors.
Killing these circulating tumor cells, or CTCs, in the bloodstream
before they have a chance to settle could help prevent metastasis and
save lives. Simply being able to count CTCs could help doctors more
accurately diagnose and treat metastatic cancer—something no device has
been able to do efficiently.
Zharov and his team tested their system in people with melanoma, or
skin cancer. The laser, beamed at a vein, sends energy to the
bloodstream, creating heat. Melanoma CTCs absorb more of this
energy than normal cells, causing them to heat up quickly and expand.
This thermal expansion produces sound waves, known as the
photoacoustic effect, and can be recorded by a small ultrasound
transducer placed over the skin near the laser. The recordings indicate
when a CTC is passing in the bloodstream.
The same laser can also be used to destroy the CTCs in real time. Heat from the laser causes vapor
bubbles to form on the tumor cells. The bubbles expand and
collapse, interacting with the cell and mechanically destroying it. Imagine shooting
bad guys in video games, or shining ultraviolet light on bacteria.
If that kind of thing feels good to you, imagine how satisfying it would
be to point this laser at your loved one’s cancer cells
The purpose of the study published today was to test the accuracy of the
device in detecting CTCs. But even with the laser in a low-energy
diagnostic mode, it killed a significant number of CTCs in six
patients. “In one patient, we destroyed 96 percent of the tumor cells”
that crossed the laser beam, says Zharov. He and his colleagues say they
hope the laser will be even more effective when they turn up the energy
in future studies.
https://futurism.com/the-byte/laser-destroy-cancer-cells
https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-human-os/biomedical/diagnostics/laser-destroys-cancer-cells-circulating-in-the-blood
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