Tumors Illuminated Brightly and Precisely With New Biodegradable Nanoprobe

Caroline Brogan, Imperial College London | Phys.org | 3/11/21

To highlight tumors in the body for cancer diagnosis, doctors can use tiny optical probes (nanoprobes) that light up when they attach to tumors. These nanoprobes allow doctors to detect the location, shape and size of cancers in the body.

Most nanoprobes are fluorescent; they absorb light of a specific color, like blue, and then emit back light of a different color, like green.

However, as tissues of the human body can emit light as well, distinguishing the nanoprobe light from the background light can be tough and could lead to the wrong interpretation.

Now, researchers at Imperial College London have developed new nanoprobes, named bioharmonophores and patented at Imperial, which emit light with a new type of glowing technology known as second harmonic generation (SHG).

The findings are published in ACS Nano.

Bioharmonophores are both biocompatible and biodegradable as they are made of peptides—the same ingredients of proteins found in the body. They are metabolized naturally in the body within 48 hours and are therefore unlikely to pose long-term health risks.

Take that, cancer!

I pause in my celebration to notice that no reference was made in the article to the skin color or diversity of the researchers.