Simultaneous diagnosis and treatment of cancer now possible
2023-04-04
(Press-News.org) Cancer is not incurable anymore. Nevertheless, according to statistics released by Statistics Korea last year, cancer remained the primary cause of mortality in Korea in 2021. This highlights the ongoing struggle against cancer, which demands effective prevention measures as well as timely diagnosis and prompt intervention through effective treatment. However, the question remains whether it is feasible to provide treatment promptly upon diagnosis.
A POSTECH research team led by Professor Young Tae Chang (Department of Chemistry) and Research Professor Nam-Young Kang (Department of Convergence IT Engineering) collaborated with researchers at A*STAR in Singapore to determine the ability of fluorescent probe for tumor-initiating cell yellow (TiY) to stain the cells responsible for tumor growth and simultaneously suppress the growth of those cells. The empirical data of the research was published in the journal Theranostics, which covers treatment, diagnosis, and personalized medicine.
In their previous study, the research team developed fluorescent probe TiY with the ability to selectively identify and detect tumor-initiating cells (TICs), much like a fluorescent highlighter. Building upon this accomplishment, the team has conducted research aimed at exploring the potential of TiY for cancer treatment.
In the present study, the team observed changes in cancer stem cells in response to different concentrations of TiY. The team obtained cancer stem cells from patients with lung cancer and transplanted them into mice for experimental purposes. In order to evaluate the therapeutic effects of TiY staining, the team gradually increased the dose of TiY administered to the mice via intravenous injection in their tests.
When exposed to a low concentration, TiY has been demonstrated to have the ability to stain cancer stem cells. However, as the concentration of TiY increases, it exhibits the remarkable ability to effectively inhibit the growth of cancer stem cells, leading to their substantial destruction. This selective targeting and treatment are made possible by the mechanism of TiY molecules, which have the capacity to selectively bind themselves to vimentin, a muscle-specific protein that is a component of the cytoskeleton of cancer stem cells, thus allowing TiY to specifically target and inhibit these cells of growth.
Current cancer treatments often fail to achieve complete tumor removal, as cancer cells can be metastasized to other organs or recur. Given the challenge, TiY presents a promising approach to cancer treatment as it can facilitate both diagnosis and treatment in a single step
This study was conducted with the support from the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of Education, the Mid-career Researcher Program of the National Research Foundation of Korea, the Institute of Basic Science, and the NMRC in Singapore.
END
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2023-04-04
Fresh insights into how our bodies interact with the microbes living in our guts suggest that a two-drug combination may offer a new way to treat inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
The potential treatment pathway emerges from a study led by experts at Cincinnati Children’s published online March 28, 2023, in the Journal of Experimental Medicine. Co-first authors were Garrett Overcast, PhD, and Hannah Meibers, BS. Corresponding author was Chandrashekhar Pasare, DVM, PhD, Division of Immunobiology and ...
2023-04-04
The photoexcitation, and especially photoionization, is one of the most important manifestations of the light-matter interaction in nature, ranging from photosynthesis in plants and vision in biology to photography and laser processing of materials. It is generally accepted that the change in a substance is weaker, the less light is absorbed. Here we found that this is not always the case.
In a new paper published in Light Science & Application, a team of scientists, led by Professor Peter G. Kazansky from Optoelectronics Research Centre, University of Southampton, United Kingdom and co-workers have demonstrated efficient ultrafast laser nanostructuring ...
2023-04-04
Marine predators have expanded their ranges into the Arctic waters over the last twenty years, driven by climate change and associated increases in productivity.
The seas surrounding the Arctic are important fisheries and ecological regions; they are also among the areas most affected by climate change. The effects of warming waters and loss of sea ice on the biodiversity of these waters, and hence their ecology, is still not fully understood.
An international team of researchers led by Dr. Irene D. Alabia at the Arctic Research Center at Hokkaido University has examined Arctic-wide ...
2023-04-04
Gas emissions are the manifestation of activity occurring beneath the surface of a volcano. Measuring them lets researchers see what can’t be seen from the surface. This knowledge is vital for hazard monitoring and the prediction of future eruptions. Since the mid-2000s, ultraviolet SO2 cameras have become important tools to measure emissions. The measurement campaigns, however, must be accompanied by a user, making SO2 cameras unsuitable for acquiring long-term datasets. Building and operating this type of camera can cost upwards ...
2023-04-04
Personality has become a more important factor than finances when it comes to dating, a new study has found.
Researchers from the University of York and the University of Essex analysed more than a million lonely hearts ads and found that in the USA, France, and Canada, there was a sharp decline in economic factors when choosing a partner. However, finances remained an important issue in India when it came to relationships.
To see how partner preferences changed over time, the researchers analysed lonely hearts ads from various major news outlets from Canada, France, and India. They collected data from publications from 1950 to 1995, the year that most of these ads shifted to being online. ...
2023-04-04
Today (4 April) the British Ecological Society has published the results of a three-year randomised trial comparing double and single-anonymous peer review in the journal Functional Ecology. The findings indicate a reduction in reviewer bias when author identities are anonymised.
The three-year randomised trial in the journal Functional Ecology, provides the most compressive data yet on the effects of anonymising authors during scholarly journal peer review.
Double-anonymous peer review, also referred to as double-blind peer review, is where author identities are not disclosed to reviewers. This differs from single-anonymous peer review where reviewers know ...
2023-04-04
The health and environmental harms of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are well-known, but a new peer-reviewed study calls into question their touted stain-fighting benefits. The study, published today in the AATCC Journal of Research, tested the performance of PFAS finishings on furniture fabrics and found that they had limited to no effectiveness, particularly under real-world conditions.
“It was surprising that these harmful but supposedly indispensable chemicals had no practical benefit,” said lead author Jonas LaPier, a PhD ...
2023-04-04
Scientists have called for a coordinated international effort to fully assess the environmental impacts of tritium ahead of a significant expected rise in its global production.
A radioactive isotope of hydrogen, tritium is a by-product of the nuclear industry and its presence is predicted to grow exponentially with nuclear increasingly seen as being key to the global low carbon economy.
That will result in many nations having to develop long-term strategies to manage tritiated radioactive waste and develop tools to both assess and address its environmental impact.
However, writing in the journal Science of the Total Environment, ...
2023-04-03
A revolutionary investigation that shed vivid light on pioneering female migrants who made their way to Orkney during the Bronze Age has won Research Project of the Year at the prestigious Current Archaeology Awards for 2023.
The project – a collaboration between EASE Archaeology and the University of Huddersfield – focused on human remains excavated at the Links of Noltland, a Bronze Age cemetery on the island of Westray. This work revealed the first concrete evidence of a major influx of non-local people into Orkney during the Bronze Age – and, significantly, it appears that this migration ...
2023-04-03
Roboticists have been using a technique similar to the ancient art of paper folding to develop autonomous machines out of thin, flexible sheets. These lightweight robots are simpler and cheaper to make and more compact for easier storage and transport.
However, the rigid computer chips traditionally needed to enable advanced robot capabilities — sensing, analyzing and responding to the environment — add extra weight to the thin sheet materials and makes them harder to fold. The semiconductor-based components therefore have to be added ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Simultaneous diagnosis and treatment of cancer now possible
