Medical Portal

The group of the American scientists has managed to create a microchip, which can determine in blood the smallest fragments which have come off a primary cancer tumor and have got in a bloodstream (circulating malignant cells).
The novelty is a silicon chip as a plastic card in size with antibodies on its surface. These antibodies can determine protein contained in the majority of cancer tumors.

During the movement of blood along the chip, its surface draws malignant cells like glue. Therefore the microchip can find out one thousand malignant cells in 60 billion blood cells.

The new device has already been tested on blood samples of 68 patients with metastases from cancer of lung, prostate, breast, pancreas and large intestine. And, as scientists declare, they have managed to find out circulating malignant cells in 115 of 116 tested samples.

It is necessary to note, that circulating malignant cells in blood can lead to development of metastases outside the sick organ. These particles are fragile and rare, and are badly determined with the help of existing methods. Therefore scientists believe that the new technology can be used for diagnostics of cancer diseases, and also for the control of treatment’s efficiency.