First Genetic-Based Tool to Detect Circulating Cancer Cells in Blood: NanoFlares Light Up Individual Cells if Breast Cancer Biomarker Is Present

November 18, 2014

(Nanotechnology Now) – Metastasis is bad news for cancer patients. Northwestern University scientists now have demonstrated a simple but powerful tool that can detect live cancer cells in the bloodstream, potentially long before the cells could settle somewhere in the body and form a dangerous tumor. The NanoFlare technology is the first genetic-based approach that is able to detect live circulating tumor cells out of the complex matrix that is human blood — no easy feat.