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Researchers at the University of Michigan are developing a pill that makes tumors light up when exposed to infrared light. Breast cancer patients treated with surgery or chemotherapy have tumors that are benign or so slow-growing that they would never have become life-threatening.
According to a study out of Denmark, dense breast tissue hides the presence of lumps and results in deaths from treatable cancers. Researchers uses a dye that responds to infrared light to tag a molecule commonly found on tumor cells, in the blood vessels that feed tumors and in inflamed tissue.
By providing specific information on the types of molecules on the surface of the tumor cells, physicians can distinguish a malignant cancer from a benign tumor. Compared to visible light, infrared light penetrates the body easily-it can get to all depths of the breast without an X-ray’s tiny risk of disrupting DNA and seeding a new tumor.
Using a dye delivered orally rather than directly into a vein also improves the safety of screening, as a few patients in 10,000 can have severe reactions to intravenous dyes. These small risks turn out to be significant when tens women are screened every year.
The targeting molecule has already been shown to make it through the stomach unscathed, and the liver also gives it a pass, so it can travel through the bloodstream. The team attached a molecule that fluoresces when it is struck with infrared light to this drug. Then, they gave the drug to mice that had breast cancer, and the tumors light up.
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