Fluorescent spray detects esophageal cancer

• April 19, 2024

Esophageal cancer has a high mortality, which occupies the ninth place in the world and the fifth in developing countries according to The new england journal of medicine. This is due to a poor prognosis that starts from a late diagnosis.

However, this could be left behind thanks to a fluorescent spray. A mechanism that stains cells to detect early malignant tumors in patients with Barrett esophagus.

Published by the Science Traslational Medicine and led by the specialist Javier Molina , this technique, which is already used in other tumors such as colon, can be very useful to guide where it is necessary to perform a biopsy on patients.

Oesophageal cancer originates in the innermost layer of the mucosa. Because two types of cells can cover the esophagus, there are two main types of esophageal cancer: squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma; this is what the American Cancer Society Although sometimes this condition does not occur as a tumor so its timely arrest is more difficult.

The researchers, through a fluorescent protein, selected a peptide (a small amino acid sequence) from a library of more than one million substances. First, they saw in a series of laboratory tests that the peptide bound very well to the tumor cells and not to the healthy cells.

Only after they tested the spray in 25 individuals with cancer of the esophagus, whose malignant and premalignant lesions were successfully illuminated on contact with this substance; that allowed to guide the biopsies, to obtain the final diagnosis.

Despite its advantages and good results, the spray still requires more tests and time before displacing the other mechanisms for detecting the disease.

The most important thing is your health, try to maintain a balanced diet and exercise, this can help you prevent future ailments. Beware!