STANFORD, Calif. - Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have developed a molecular probe that sets aglow tumor cells within living animals. Their goal is to use the probe to improve the diagnosis and treatment of cancer and other diseases.The probe’s main ingredient is a molecule that labels active proteases - protein-destroying enzymes - that run amok in cancerous cells. The molecule is normally invisible to the naked eye but it carries a fluorescent tag that lights up when it binds to the protease. The tag beams out near-infrared light that passes through skin and is detectable with a special camera. The use of the imaging technique in mice is described in a study to be published in the Sept. 9 advance online issue of Nature Chemical Biology.
