Diagnostic platform could simplify cancer diagnosis

Microvesicles shed by cancer cells are even more numerous than those released by normal cells, so detecting them could prove a simple means for diagnosing cancer.

In a study published in Nature Medicine, investigators at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Center for Systems Biology (CSB) demonstrate that microvesicles shed by brain cancer cells can be reliably detected in human blood through a combination of nanotechnology and their new NMR-based device.

‘About 30 or 40 years ago, people noticed something in the bloodstream that they initially thought was some kind of debris or “cell dust”,’ said Hakho Lee of the CSB and co-senior author of the study with Ralph Weissleder, director of the CSB. ‘But it has recently become apparent that these vesicles shed by cells actually harbour the same biomarkers as their parent cells.’

Circulating tumour cells (CTCs) have been regarded as a potential key to improved cancer diagnosis, but Lee explained in a statement that CTCs are extremely rare and finding them in blood is difficult.