2013年2月5日讯 /生物谷BIOON/ --瑞士科学家近来发现可以用纳米级显微镜来辅助诊断乳腺癌。这项技术是由University of Basel的研究人员开发出来的。首先研究人员利用纳米显微镜挤压乳腺组织，然后通过原子力显微镜观察组织的受压迫情况发现健康组织较为僵硬，而癌症组织则是僵硬部分和柔软部分相间分布。根据这种原理，研究人员能够较早地查出患者病变位置，并预测癌细胞可能会如何扩散。目前，研究人员计划用两年时间将该技术市场化。
详细英文报道：
Swiss scientists discovered a way to enhance breast cancer diagnostics through the use of a nanoscale microscope. The specially made tool helped them learn that breast cancer tissue is alternatively stiff and soft, and that healthy tissue, by contrast, is stiff all over. Knowing this helps, they conclude, because it is crucial knowledge that can help determine how likely a cancer is to spread. And with that data in hand, clinicians can plan surgery or chemotherapy treatments accordingly for maximum effect.
The University of Basel team used a nanoscale microscope tip to make an indentation in a breast tissue biopsy. Next, they applied an indentation-type atomic force microscope to visualize what they did at the nanoscale level. They found healthy tissue is almost uniformly stiff, but cancerous tissue has both soft and stiff components.
So how will this help breast cancer diagnostics in the future? There is some controversy over how knowledge about tissue texture could influence cancer treatment decisions. The Basel team acknowledges this, but believes a nanoscale image will make all the difference, because that is the level at which scientists can track cellular mechanics. And with that knowledge in hand, they believe it will be useful to help inform surgical and chemotherapy decisions, potentially at an earlier stage after tracking a cancer's status and location as precisely as possible.
Ultimately, the research team is looking to develop the atomic force microscope they created for the research into a diagnostic tool that can be easy to use within the clinic. They promise a two-year time frame for this, which would be noteworthy.
The University of Basel's Marija Plodinec explained that researchers are zeroing in on the physical properties of a tumor and trying to figure out how biomechanics influence cancer metastasis, as well as how cancer cells migrate and invade different parts of the body. Plodinec said in a statement that the technology her team developed--known as ARTIDIS--can enable this with "potential prognostic and predictive value as a marker for therapeutic applications."
Researchers were to present details of their work at the 57th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society, Feb. 2-6, 2013 in Philadelphia, PA.

太好了，越来越多的医疗可以应用到了致癌战斗中！