Nanotechnology Now

Our NanoNews Digest Sponsors
Heifer International



Home > Press > New device uses gold nanoparticles to test for lung cancer

Fred R. Hirsch, MD, PhD, investigator at the University of Colorado Cancer Center and professor of medical oncology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine
Fred R. Hirsch, MD, PhD, investigator at the University of Colorado Cancer Center and professor of medical oncology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine

Abstract:
The metabolism of lung cancer patients is different than the metabolism of healthy people. And so the molecules that make up cancer patients' exhaled breath are different too. A new device pioneered at the University of Colorado Cancer Center and Nobel-Prize-winning Technion University in Haifa, Israel uses gold nanoparticles to trap and define these molecules in exhaled breath. By comparing these molecular signatures to control groups, the device can tell not only if a lung is cancerous, but if the cancer is small-cell or non-small-cell, and adenocarcinoma or squamous cell carcinoma.

New device uses gold nanoparticles to test for lung cancer

Denver, CO | Posted on November 17th, 2011

"This could totally revolutionize lung cancer screening and diagnosis," says Fred R. Hirsch, MD, PhD, investigator at the CU Cancer Center and professor of medical oncology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. "The perspective here is the development of a non-traumatic, easy, cheap approach to early detection and differentiation of lung cancer."

The proof of concept, recently published in the journal Nanomedicine, showed that in a preliminary study the device clearly distinguished between the volatile organic compounds in cancer patients' exhaled breath compared to the breath of a control group. Subjects simply exhale into a bag, which separates superficial exhaled breath from breath that originated deeper in the lungs. And then this deep breath is analyzed by an array of gold nanoparticle sensors.

"What is unique here is that we take advantage of a nanotechnology development going on at Technion University that allows us to immediately identify very small molecules," Hirsch says, and based on the identity of these small molecules in exhaled breath, Hirsch and colleagues can tell if the breath came from a cancerous lung.

The device's potential uses go beyond diagnosis.

"We can measure the levels of volatile organic compounds against population scores to diagnose cancer and types of cancer, or can measure the change in patients' levels of VOCs across time with the intent of, for example, monitoring how well a patient responds to specific treatments," Hirsch says. A breath now and a breath after treatment could define whether a patient should stay with a drug regimen or explores other options.

Personalized medicine has come to lung cancer - just as in years past it has come to breast and some other cancers. The sooner and more accurately you can define the cancer subtype, the more precisely you can target the disease. This new device could eventually help doctors quickly, simply, and inexpensively define patients' lung cancer subtypes, allowing them to pair therapies with subtypes early in the treatment process.

In fact, Hirsch and his colleagues will soon publish very encouraging preclinical data showing that the device's gold nanoparticle sensors can distinguish between different types of lung cancer cells.

The device may also help doctors smooth the wrinkles in existing methods of cancer screening. For example, the National Lung Screening Trial recently reported that one of the major challenges in its more than 53,000-person study of low-dose chest CT scans to detect lung cancer was the trial's nearly 95 percent rate of false positives - CT scans found nodules that turned out not to be cancerous.

"That calls for better measures to distinguish what's a benign nodule and a malignant nodule," Hirsch says. "That's what we in the lung cancer group here at the University of Colorado Cancer Center want to study with this technology, and we have very encouraging preliminary data. We could potentially use the exhaled breath to determine who among the individuals with a CT-detected nodule should go for further work up and/or eventually treatment."

Where an $1,800 chest CT struggles, simply exhaling may succeed.

"If it works, you can imagine standing in the grocery store and having high risk people blow into a bag," Hirsch says.

####

About University of Colorado Cancer Center
The University of Colorado Cancer Center (CU Cancer Center) is the Rocky Mountain region’s only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center. NCI has given only 40 cancer centers this designation, deeming membership as “the best of the best.”

CU Cancer Center’s director is Dan Theodorescu, MD, PhD.

Headquartered on the University of Colorado Denver Anschutz Medical Campus, the CU Cancer Center is a consortium of three state universities (Colorado State University, University of Colorado at Boulder and University of Colorado Denver) and five institutions (University of Colorado Hospital, The Children’s Hospital, Denver Health, Denver VA Medical Center and National Jewish Health).

Together, our 440+ members are working to ease the cancer burden through cancer care, research, education and prevention and control.

For more information, please click here

Contacts:
Lynn G. Clark
Communications Manager
University of Colorado Cancer Center
303-724-3160
lynn.clark [at] ucd

If you have a comment, please Contact us.

Issuers of news releases, not 7th Wave, Inc. or Nanotechnology Now, are solely responsible for the accuracy of the content.

Bookmark:
Delicious Digg Newsvine Google Yahoo Reddit Magnoliacom Furl Facebook

Related News Press

News and information

Researchers develop artificial building blocks of life March 8th, 2024

How surface roughness influences the adhesion of soft materials: Research team discovers universal mechanism that leads to adhesion hysteresis in soft materials March 8th, 2024

Two-dimensional bimetallic selenium-containing metal-organic frameworks and their calcinated derivatives as electrocatalysts for overall water splitting March 8th, 2024

Curcumin nanoemulsion is tested for treatment of intestinal inflammation: A formulation developed by Brazilian researchers proved effective in tests involving mice March 8th, 2024

Nanomedicine

High-tech 'paint' could spare patients repeated surgeries March 8th, 2024

Researchers develop artificial building blocks of life March 8th, 2024

Curcumin nanoemulsion is tested for treatment of intestinal inflammation: A formulation developed by Brazilian researchers proved effective in tests involving mice March 8th, 2024

The Access to Advanced Health Institute receives up to $12.7 million to develop novel nanoalum adjuvant formulation for better protection against tuberculosis and pandemic influenza March 8th, 2024

Discoveries

What heat can tell us about battery chemistry: using the Peltier effect to study lithium-ion cells March 8th, 2024

Researchers’ approach may protect quantum computers from attacks March 8th, 2024

High-tech 'paint' could spare patients repeated surgeries March 8th, 2024

Nanoscale CL thermometry with lanthanide-doped heavy-metal oxide in TEM March 8th, 2024

Announcements

What heat can tell us about battery chemistry: using the Peltier effect to study lithium-ion cells March 8th, 2024

Curcumin nanoemulsion is tested for treatment of intestinal inflammation: A formulation developed by Brazilian researchers proved effective in tests involving mice March 8th, 2024

The Access to Advanced Health Institute receives up to $12.7 million to develop novel nanoalum adjuvant formulation for better protection against tuberculosis and pandemic influenza March 8th, 2024

Nanoscale CL thermometry with lanthanide-doped heavy-metal oxide in TEM March 8th, 2024

NanoNews-Digest
The latest news from around the world, FREE




  Premium Products
NanoNews-Custom
Only the news you want to read!
 Learn More
NanoStrategies
Full-service, expert consulting
 Learn More











ASP
Nanotechnology Now Featured Books




NNN

The Hunger Project