Researchers at Imperial College London have developed a new
imaging technique that lights up cancer's sleeper cells, warning
patients and doctors of a potential relapse.
The study shows that the non-invasive scan can detect dormant
cancer cells in mice.
Most cancer treatments work by targeting fast-growing cells.
Dormant cells can be resistant to therapy and are often responsible
for cancers coming back.
Professor Eric Aboagye from Imperial said: "The ability of
cancer cells to escape treatment by entering these dormant states
has stymied progress for the treatment of numerous different
cancers. This technique has immediate potential in the clinic to
assess how well drugs are working for patients, and to warn of
potential relapses post-treatment."
In the sleeping state, cancer cells stop growing and instead
store energy for future use. The researchers used positron emission
tomography (PET) scans to measure the buildup of these energy
stores, revealing the dormant cells.
Previous methods to examine energy stores in cancer cells all
required invasive techniques that could only sample a small section
of the tumour.
Nell Barrie, Cancer Research UK's senior science communications
manager, said: "This method shows real promise as a tool for
telling doctors how much of the cancer could possibly be escaping
treatment. At the moment this method has only been used in mice,
but this sort of technique can be adapted for the clinic to help
save more lives."
The paper, A novel radiotracer to image glycogen metabolism in tumors by
positron emission tomography, is published in Cancer
Research.