Gold nanorods ‘detect metastatic tumour cells’

Researchers at Purdue University have developed a method to quickly analyse the cellular composition of breast tumours using gold nanorods, it has been reported.

According to the National Cancer Institute, each gold nanorod has its own characteristic optical signature and the technique could help to provide oncologists with a more precise evaluation of the metastatic potential of an individual’s cancer.

A team of investigators led by Joseph Irudayaraj developed biocompatible gold nanorods to which antibodies could be attached. The gold nanorods produce plasmons through interaction with light creating a wave-like motion of electrons on the surface of the nanorods, as detailed in the journal Nano Letters.

The researchers prepared a gold nanorod-antibody construct to recognise a biomarker found on all cell surfaces in order to enable them to calculate relative amounts of the various tumour markers on a cancer cell.

Investigators characterised breast tumours according to their cellular composition using three different antibody-labelled gold nanorods.

They could then correlate their findings to the metastatic potential of each given cell type, with the researchers noting that they could have monitored up to 15 different antibody-nanorod constructs at the same time.