MOSCOW, November 24Scientists from SSU named after N.G. Chernyshevsky, together with colleagues from other Russian universities, determined the parameters of a laser that can be used to search for tumor cells in the blood. According to the researchers, the ability to find extremely rare melanoma cells in the blood, which absorb light more strongly than other cells in the patient’s blood, will become a key technology in the new Russian system for diagnosing oncology without drawing blood. The results of the work are presented in Cytometry Part A.
According to statistics, successful treatment of oncological diseases at the first stage of development is possible in 92% of cases, at the second stage — in 76%, and at the third stage — in 56%. Such high recovery rates are due to the presence of a wide arsenal of medications, which allows individual selection of therapy, taking into account the characteristics of each patient, experts explained.
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When choosing a treatment strategy and specific medications, specialists often need a long time to monitor the development of the disease.
Currently, diagnosing cancer and monitoring the effectiveness of drug therapy is done using blood tests. Testing materials requires a specialized sterile laboratory, qualified specialists and a significant diagnostic period, reported specialists from the Saratov National Research State University named after N.G. Chernyshevsky (SSU).
Scientists at SSU, as part of a scientific team, are developing a device that, using radiation, can quickly recognize cancer cells in a patient’s blood. To do this, a laser beam shines through the patient’s palm and records the “response” of the ultrasound sensor, experts explained.
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“Now we understand much better what happens during a photoacoustic search for a circulating cancer cell, under what conditions we find it safely for the patient, what we need from the creators of the laser system to make such a machine,” said the associate professor Department of Innovation, senior researcher at the Laboratory of Biomedical Photoacoustics of SSU Daniil Bratashov.
He noted that in the course of the work, it was possible to understand how changing various laser parameters affects the generation of signals from cancer cells. Experts have determined the optimal set of parameters technically achievable in a laser system, which provides a high probability of detecting an individual cell with oncology in the bloodstream.
““These results allow us to design a device so that the technology finds melanoma cancer cells in a patient, tells the doctor whether they are in the patient’s blood or not. If the cells are absent, this means that the prescribed treatment for possible melanoma metastases is working correctly for this patient «, Bratashov explained.
The expert emphasized that the team of scientists has already successfully found rare melanoma cells in the bloodstream of mice. A prototype diagnostic system was also created, ready for testing on patients. Now experts are looking for opportunities for mass production of the design.
In the next stages of the research, scientists plan to create a system for visualizing cells using the same principles, as well as select highly sensitive ultrasound sensors for an oncology diagnostic system.
The development was carried out with the support of the megagrant program. Further development to the stage of readiness for testing on patients continues within the framework of the state support program for universities of the Russian Federation «Priority-2030».