New imaging tool could improve cancer diagnosis CHICAGO
(Reuters) - A new imaging technique that uses tiny, dye-
containing particles to "fingerprint" proteins within a single
cell may lead to better ways to diagnose and treat cancer, U.S.
researchers said on Tuesday. If the technique succeeds on a
larger scale, it could improve the ability not only to diagnose
cancers, but to determine how aggressive a tumor is and how
likely it is to respond to therapy. "We could use it for
diagnosis and maybe to help plan an appropriate treatment for a
specific indication," said Cathy Shachaf, a researcher at
Stanford University whose study appears in the Public Library of
Science Journal PLoS One. Shachaf said the effort is designed to
give doctors a better look at the machinery inside a cell.
"Different types of cells are active in cancer," Shachaf said.
"What we tried to do is develop technology to be able to look at
the proteins active in a single cell to able to define and
distinguish different types of cancer cells fr