Circulating Tumour Cells

The phenomenon, named 'nanomaterials induced endothelial leakiness' (NanoEL), accelerates the movement of cancer cells from the primary tumour and also causes circulating cancer cells to escape from blood circulation.

The lab on a chip has the potential to diagnose cancer early by detecting tumour cells that circulate in the bloodstream.

By collecting samples from the portal vein -- which carries blood from the gastrointestinal tract, including from the pancreas, to the liver -- physicians can learn far more about a patients pancreatic cancer than by relying on peripheral blood from a more easily accessed vein in the arm, says a study.

In a first, researchers have developed a technique that coats anti-cancer drugs as patient's own platelets, allowing the drugs to last longer and attack both primary tumours and the circulating tumour cells that can cause cancer to spread.

The phenomenon, named 'nanomaterials induced endothelial leakiness' (NanoEL), accelerates the movement of cancer cells from the primary tumour and also causes circulating cancer cells to escape from blood circulation.

The lab on a chip has the potential to diagnose cancer early by detecting tumour cells that circulate in the bloodstream.

By collecting samples from the portal vein -- which carries blood from the gastrointestinal tract, including from the pancreas, to the liver -- physicians can learn far more about a patients pancreatic cancer than by relying on peripheral blood from a more easily accessed vein in the arm, says a study.

In a first, researchers have developed a technique that coats anti-cancer drugs as patient's own platelets, allowing the drugs to last longer and attack both primary tumours and the circulating tumour cells that can cause cancer to spread.