Szeged Research May Help Early Detection of Tumors

The work of researchers in Szeged, SE Hungary, may in future allow specialists to diagnose early cancer with nano-gold injected into the body, the state news agency MTI learned from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) this Thursday.

According to the release, Edit Csapó Juhász, a researcher at the University of Szeged (SZTE) and her research group Lendület (‘Momentum’), are working on nanostructures made of gold.

An assistant professor at SZTE and senior research fellow at the Biomimetic Systems Research Group of the MTA-SZTE, she started working on precious metal nanostructures more than a decade ago, and in the first few years, she investigated the issues of their production. About three years ago, she and her colleagues became the first in the country to produce precious-metal nanostructured materials that exhibit intense fluorescence when illuminated with UV light.

The Lendület program aims to use these nanostructures in completely new fields of application, mainly in biomedical sciences," said Edit Csapó Juhász. They will develop molecules that can be produced by green chemistry, i.e. from environmentally friendly raw materials. This will make the production process cost-effective and the products biocompatible: i.e. they will have a good chance of not causing side effects once in the body.

One of the researchers' goals is to develop optical sensing systems. These particles, which are an order of magnitude smaller than viruses, fluoresce intensely in different colors. When the nanostructures interact with the target molecule – which could be a toxic substance in drinking water or wastewater, or a small molecule that is dangerous to humans – they change their fluorescence, indicating the presence of the substance they are looking for.

Some cancers, such as melanoma, metastasize very quickly in the body, which unfortunately drastically worsens the prognosis of the disease. Edit Csapó's Lendület group is developing gold-based tumor diagnostic nanostructures in collaboration with the Institute of Nuclear Medicine at the University of Debrecen. The radioactive isotope-labelled nanostructures include a small peptide that can selectively bind to tumor cell surface receptors. When a melanoma hits a tumor, it accumulates there, which can be monitored on PET scans. It is important for future clinical use that the nanoparticle used can be excreted from the body via the kidneys after the scan is completed.

The current research is essentially basic research, but the team leader does not rule out the possibility that if the results are promising, and if a drug can be patented, it could attract the interest of a pharmaceutical company. “This could lead to clinical application," the statement says.