‘Star Trek’ technology helps check tumours
Researchers have figured out how to spot genetic changes in the body that may help determine whether a tumour is shrinking or a drug is working, using standard imaging techniques.
They liken their discovery to a device featured on ‘Star Trek’ that, when passed over the body, reveals the molecular secrets within.
Such information could lead to diagnosing and treating patients individually, based on the unique characteristics of their disease, the researchers say.
Dr Howard Chang of Stanford University School of Medicine, whose work appears the journal Nature Biotechnology, compared images from radiology scans such as CT scans commonly used to track cancer with lab tools called DNA micro arrays, gene chips that screen thousands of genes at a time.
What they found was a way to translate the data from the images into a computer model that could predict what was going on with the genetic material within the tumours.
The researchers say the technique may help eliminate the need for a biopsy, a procedure in which a needle is injected into a tumour to determine what type of cancer a patient has.
“This is a technology that potentially makes it simpler to very cheaply understand the genetic activity of a person’s disease,” Dr Chang says.
