The news feeds on this site are independently provided by Adfero Limited © and do not represent the views or opinions of the World Gold Council.

Tuesday, 10th May 2005 (5747 views)

A groundbreaking project at the Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT) has discovered that nanoparticles of gold could help detect cancerous cells.<br/><br/>The Laser Dynamics Laboratory (LDL) found that the gold nanoparticles could make cancerous cells "shine" by showing up the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EFGR), a protein usually found all over the surface of cancerous cells.<br/><br/>By binding the gold nanoparticles to an antibody for EFGR, known as anti-EFGR, researchers managed to make the nanoparticles attach themselves to the cancer cells and show them up.<br/><br/>"If you add this conjugated nanoparticle solution to healthy cells and cancerous cells and you look at the image, you can tell with a simple microscope that the whole cancer cell is shining," Mostafa El-Sayed, director of the LDL and chemistry professor at GIT. <br/><br/>"The healthy cell doesn't bind to the nanoparticles specifically, so you don't see where the cells are. With this technique, if you see a well defined cell glowing, that's cancer."<br/><br/>The system offers numerous benefits, the researchers claim: it requires only a simple, inexpensive microscope and white light; the results are instantaneous, and it is not toxic to human cells.<img alt="track" src="http://directnews.dehavilland.co.uk/dn.gif?feedid=196&itemid=8468243"/>

 

« Back to Gold News stories