Latest Cancer Detection Method can 'Light Up' Tumor Cells for Easier Removal: Study

A new imaging technique developed by researchers at Duke University Medical Center, Massachusetts General Hospital and Massachusetts Institute of Technology can help easily remove tumor cells by "lighting them up."

The researchers developed a probe called LUM015 in which they developed to attract and make residual cancer cells light up to make it easier to see and remove. The preliminary study published in Science Translational Medicine states that the technique is safe and could be an effective way of detecting residual cancer.

"When a patient has cancer, the surgeon tries to find the tumor and cut it out," said Dr. David Kirsch, senior author and professor at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina, via WebMD. However, there can sometimes be microscopic residual cancer left behind that the surgeon can't see.

"So this imaging technique is meant to help the surgeon see the cancer during the operation, to avoid the patient having to go in for a second operation," he explained.

The unique challenge that surgeons face when removing cancerous tumor are the residual and a couple of small ones that are not very visible.

"Better imaging is always needed. Because with a big, massive tumor it's easy to see the cancer. But when it's just a few cells or a small tumor, it's very hard to see and properly target therapy," said Dr. Stephen Fredland of Los Angeles' Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, via CBS News.

"But if this [experimental approach] pans out, which is still a huge 'if' at this point, it holds the promise to do that," Dr. Fredland explained, who is not involved in the study. "I do think using these little enzymes, these protease, to tell us where the cancer is absolutely does make sense. And in theory, this concept should work for the vast majority of cancers. So although it's at a very early stage, there's a lot of promise here. And hopefully, they [the study researchers] on the path to something great."

The early trial involved mice and 15 patients who either had breast cancer or soft-tissue sarcoma. They injected the LUM015 in the area where the cancer is located on the patients and the liquid spread into the metastasized tissue instead of the healthy ones.

In the test subjects, researchers were only able to perform the removal of cancerous cells using the technique. On humans, they only studied how the fluorescent tumor tissue can affect them. The researchers found the "light up" technique to be safe and possibly without side effects.

Further trial will be conducted on 50 breast cancer patients and Dr. Kirsch hopes to have the technique ready by 2017.