Medical Design and Outsourcing

  • Home
  • Medical Device Business
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Financial
    • Regulatory
  • Applications
    • Cardiovascular
    • Devices
    • Imaging
    • Implantables
    • Medical Equipment
    • Orthopedic
    • Surgical
  • Technologies
    • Supplies and Components Index
    • Contract Manufacturing
    • Components
    • Electronics
    • Extrusions
    • Materials
    • Motion Control
    • Prototyping
    • Pumps
    • Tubing
  • MedTech Resources
    • Medtech Events in 2025
    • The 2024 Medtech Big 100
    • Medical Device Handbook
    • MedTech 100 Index
    • Subscribe to Print Magazine
    • DeviceTalks
    • Digital Editions
    • eBooks
    • Manufacturer Search
    • Podcasts
    • Print Subscription
    • Webinars / Digital Events
    • Whitepapers
    • Voices
    • Video
  • 2025 Leadership
    • 2024 Winners
    • 2023 Winners
    • 2022 Winners
    • 2021 Winners
  • Women in Medtech
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe

A Few Circulating Cancer Cells Could Cue Risk of Metastases

June 10, 2014 By Kimberly Brown, Society of Nuclear Medicine

A simple noninvasive blood test matched with state-of-the-art molecular imaging of individual cells could help oncologists understand their patients’ chances of survival, say researchers at the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging’s 2014 Annual Meeting.

Metastasis accounts for an estimated 90 percent of cancer deaths. For decades, researchers tried to develop a way to gauge a cancer’s risk of metastasizing from a blood sample—the long-sought-after liquid biopsy. Today there are numerous methods available to isolate lone cells. Novel methods recently used to study those cells are radioluminescence microscopy, which combines nuclear medicine, optical imaging and single-cell autoradiography (SCAR), used to localize the micro-distribution of radioactive substances in a single cell in order to image a particular physiological process, such as a receptor expressing genetic information or an enzyme involved in cellular metabolism.

“We are now starting to study the properties of these lone cancer cells, which could be predictive of different disease states and that understanding could help guide therapy decisions,” said Laura S. Sasportas, a principal researcher and PhD candidate in the Gambhir Lab in the department of bioengineering at Stanford University in Stanford, Calif. “The great potential of looking at circulating tumor cells (CTCs) has been limited mainly by their extreme rarity. For example, in the case of breast cancer, CTCs are estimated to be in the order of a few to a few hundred cells among billions of blood cells in a typical 7.5 milliliter blood sample from a cancer patient. In the past decade, however, CTC research has been booming due to the development of exciting new technologies that can sensitively detect and harvest those very rare cells from patient’s blood.”

For this study, researchers took breast cancer cells isolated from the blood of small animal models and imaged them using radioluminescence microscopy and SCAR along with a common molecular imaging radiotracer called F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG). The latter mirrors the exchange of energy in the presence of glucose in order to target the few hyper-metabolic cancer cells within these blood samples. Results of the research showed that less than three percent of CTCs in the sample indicated increased cellular metabolism compared to the parent cancer cell line. Researchers are not yet sure if this indicates an aggressive cancer cell or not. Further research and validation in clinical trials is needed to strengthen the theory.

“We hypothesize that the unexplored metabolic characterization of CTCs could provide valuable information for disease monitoring,” said Sasportas. “By evaluating the glucose metabolism of CTCs with F-18 FDG, we could better manage the care of cancer patients by improving therapy selection and therefore avoiding unnecessary treatment.”

Cancer remains a top cause of death across the globe. It was thought to account for approximately 8.2 million deaths in 2012, according to current World Health Organizations statistics. Lung, liver, stomach, colorectal and breast cancer are associated with the highest mortality.

Related Articles Read More >

A photo of Capstan Medical's mitral valve implant, which uses nitinol.
Capstan Medical’s R&D head discusses the heart valve and robotics startup’s tech, engineering challenges and solutions, advice for others in medtech and how to join his team
An illustration of a neurosurgeon using a robotic endoscope to remove a brain tumor.
MDO Nitinol Innovation Special Report
A photo of Highridge Medical CEO Rebecca Whitney.
Highridge Medical is betting on this spine tech
A photo of the miniature Auxilium Biotechnologies implants made on the International Space Station.
Implants 3D-printed in space could enable nerve regeneration
“mdo
EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND STAY CONNECTED
Get the latest medical device business news, application and technology trends.

DeviceTalks Weekly

See More >

MDO Digital Edition

Digital Edition

Subscribe to Medical Design & Outsourcing. Bookmark, share and interact with the leading medical design engineering magazine today.

MEDTECH 100 INDEX

Medtech 100 logo
Market Summary > Current Price
The MedTech 100 is a financial index calculated using the BIG100 companies covered in Medical Design and Outsourcing.
DeviceTalks

DeviceTalks is a conversation among medical technology leaders. It's events, podcasts, webinars and one-on-one exchanges of ideas & insights.

DeviceTalks

New MedTech Resource

Medical Tubing

MassDevice

Mass Device

The Medical Device Business Journal. MassDevice is the leading medical device news business journal telling the stories of the devices that save lives.

Visit Website
MDO ad
Medical Design and Outsourcing
  • MassDevice
  • DeviceTalks
  • MedTech100 Index
  • Medical Tubing + Extrusion
  • Medical Design Sourcing
  • Drug Delivery Business News
  • Drug Discovery & Development
  • Pharmaceutical Processing World
  • R&D World
  • About Us/Contact
  • Advertise With Us
  • Subscribe to Print Magazine
  • Subscribe to our E-Newsletter
  • Listen to our Weekly Podcasts
  • Join our DeviceTalks Tuesdays Discussion

Copyright © 2025 WTWH Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media LLC. Site Map | Privacy Policy | RSS

Search Medical Design & Outsourcing

  • Home
  • Medical Device Business
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Financial
    • Regulatory
  • Applications
    • Cardiovascular
    • Devices
    • Imaging
    • Implantables
    • Medical Equipment
    • Orthopedic
    • Surgical
  • Technologies
    • Supplies and Components Index
    • Contract Manufacturing
    • Components
    • Electronics
    • Extrusions
    • Materials
    • Motion Control
    • Prototyping
    • Pumps
    • Tubing
  • MedTech Resources
    • Medtech Events in 2025
    • The 2024 Medtech Big 100
    • Medical Device Handbook
    • MedTech 100 Index
    • Subscribe to Print Magazine
    • DeviceTalks
    • Digital Editions
    • eBooks
    • Manufacturer Search
    • Podcasts
    • Print Subscription
    • Webinars / Digital Events
    • Whitepapers
    • Voices
    • Video
  • 2025 Leadership
    • 2024 Winners
    • 2023 Winners
    • 2022 Winners
    • 2021 Winners
  • Women in Medtech
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe