Listening to cancer cells

Emerging Technology Trends at ZDNet.com describes a novel approach to detecting to skin cancer cells present in blood samples — photoacoustic detection. Excerpts below.

Link: » Listening to cancer cells | Emerging Technology Trends | ZDNet.com

According to researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia, it's now possible to detect skin cancer cells present in blood samples by listening to the sound of melanoma cells. The scientists have used a method named photoacoustic detection, which uses a laser to make cells vibrate and ultrasound techniques to pick the sound of cancerous cells. This technique is so precise that it's possible to identify the spread of cancer even if there are only ten melanoma cells in a blood sample. Still, large clinical tests must be done before this method can be widely used. But read more…

John Viator, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Engineering and member of the team of researchers, is working on this technique for a while. You can read two previous University of Missouri-Columbia news releases on the subject, "Doctors Use Sound to Battle Melanoma" (February 24, 2005) and "Professors Awarded $470,000 for Development of Cancer Detection Devices" (July 25, 2006).

This new blood test is the object of a patent, "Photo-Acoustic Detection of Circulating Melanoma Cells" (PDF format, 1 page). But even if this blood test can lead to early diagnosis of metastasis, large clinical studies still need to be done. Meanwhile, the researchers are now working "to extend the reach of its technique to other types of cancer."

Sources: Optical Society of America news release, October 16, 2006; and various websites