Friday, 28th September 2007 (3424 views)

Gold nanorods could be the key to delivering a unique optical signature for cancer tumour cells, new research suggests.

Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have discovered that gold nanorods align themselves in an orderly way on the surface of cancer cells, resulting in an intensified optical signal.

A team of researchers led by Mostafa El-Sayed linked gold nanoparticles to an antibody that binds the cell-surface receptor EGFR, which when incubated with normal cells and oral tumour cells and imaged using spectroscopic techniques produced a strong, clear image of the tumour cells alone.

The researchers hypothesised that the strength of the cancer cell image - almost twice as bright as that of normal cells - was an effect of the alignment of the gold nanoparticles with each other.

Supported by the National Cancer Institute's Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer, the study was also participated in by scientists from the University of California, San Francisco and the University of California, Berkeley.

In related news, it has emerged that US medical technology firm Becton, Dickinson and Company has signed a deal to fund a follow-on research programme into gold nanoparticles.

 

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