With over 150,000 diagnoses per year, cancer is the leading cause of illness and death in Australia. Cancers in organs such as the liver and kidneys often require surgery for a diagnosis, however, researchers have recently created a device to diagnose cancer that does not require invasive biopsy surgeries.
A biopsy can take many different forms. Some examples include a needle biopsy, the most general type, which is when a small needle is inserted into the skin to collect cells or fluid. An image-guided biopsy can include an x-ray, MRI, or ultrasound. A surgical biopsy is a surgery that includes making an incision in the skin in order to remove suspicious tissue. The complexity of the surgery varies depending on the the part of the body. Biopsies can be difficult for many reasons such as the price, the amount of risk, its consuming of time, and the possibility of bad side effects; however before this new method was finalized, they were necessary for a definite diagnosis and effective treatment.
Scientists have created a device called the Static Droplet Microfluidic device, which identifies the metabolic signature of cancer cells to identify ones that have broken away from a tumor and entered the bloodstream. Professor Warkiani states that the device has 38,400 chambers, which are capable of classifying the tumor cells, making it easier to distinguish a single cancer cell among billions of normal blood cells. This device is also crucial in discovering metastasis, which is when cancer cells travel through the blood and grow in different parts of the body. Metastasis leads to 90% of cancer-related deaths.
By <a href=”//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Cancer_Research_UK_uploader” title=”User:Cancer Research UK uploader”>Cancer Research UK uploader</a> – <span class=”int-own-work” lang=”en”>Own work</span>, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link
As learned in AP Biology, cancer cells are created when a cell loses its ability to regulate cell division. This inability could be caused by mutations that affect the activity of the cell cycle regulators. For example, a mutation could cause a lack of activity of cell cycle inhibitors, which allows the cell to continue to divide without limits. There could also be too much activity of positive cell cycle regulators, which can lead to cancer because it causes the cell to divide too much.
Differently from normal cells, cancer cells can continue to divide whether they have growth factors or not. Some have growth factors that are always “on,” some have the ability to make their own growth factors, and some can use neighboring cells to make growth factors for them. They also have “replicative immortality,” which is their ability to replicate many more times than the average cell. The enzyme telomerase is created, which reverses the shortening of chromosomes that normal cells experience during cell division. This characteristic is why cells have a limited life span. Cancer cells are difficult to stop because they do not undergo apoptosis (programmed cell death) like normal cells.
The Static Droplet Microfluidic Device will allow doctors to diagnose and treat cancers in a safe and cost-effective way. I have family members who have undergone painful surgeries in order to officially diagnose cancer, and technology using blood would have greatly improved their process of diagnosis. I invite any and all comments to share experiences or other information!
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