Cancer stem cells form a small subset of highly tumorigenic cells within the bulk of the tumours which mainly responsible for initiation, invasion, rapid growth, metastasis and therapeutic resistance in different types of human cancers. Nowadays, nanotechnology has increasing attention in multi-disciplinary research fields. Conjugated gold nanoparticles are widely used as biomarkers and bio-delivery vehicles in the medicine as well as early and advanced cancer detection and treatment. The current work aimed to introduce a novel diagnostic and prognostic approach in early detection of cancer stem cells in salivary gland tumours using gold nanoparticles conjugated to CD24 (CD24-Gold Nanocomposite).
Nano-based diagnostic tool can provide promising highly sensitive, specific biomarker for early detection and treatment of salivary gland tumours compared to non-conjugated biomarkers and in turn improves patient prognosis and outcome.