Detection of Sugar Molecule Biomarkers through MRI can Make Biopsies more Effective

In a breakthrough revelation, researchers from Johns Hopkins Medicine have suggested that if magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines are used to detect sugar molecule biomarkers, it might improve the efficacy of biopsies.

The study researchers shared that the new imaging method was able to detect telltale sugar molecules that were shed by the outer membranes of cancerous cells.

Jeff Bulte, PhD, a professor of radiology and radiological science in the Institute for Cell Engineering at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, explained that when cells become cancerous, some proteins present on their outer membranes shed sugar molecules making them less slimy.

"Perhaps because they're crowded closer together. If we tune the MRI to detect sugars attached to a particular protein, we can see the difference between normal and cancerous cells", affirmed Bulte.

Earlier studies have also suggested that magnetic resonance imaging is able to detect glucose. This technique has been used before, but the researchers had to use injectable dyes to image proteins in the outside of the cells that has shed the sugar.

Study's lead researcher Xiaolei Song said main benefit of detecting a molecule present inside the body is that they can see the complete tumor. This aspect is not often possible with injectable dyes, as they reach only a part of the tumor and not to forget, dyes are expensive, affirmed Song.

Experiments have been carried out on lab-grown cells and lab mice. More testing is needed to know how techniques like this could be used more effectively in the future and especially in the area of early-cancer detection.

It is the first study, which has discovered the use of MRI in imaging cellular slime. The researchers think that the technique they are developing could be used to detect early stage cancer and also, to monitor chemotherapy response.