An Accessible Way of Making Cancer Cells Glow

Scientists have created a method of making cell-cell interactions emit light using chemicals common to many biology laboratories. The researchers injected into mice with advanced tumors a chemical that, through the interaction between cancer and immune cells, can be metabolized into luciferin, a molecule found in fireflies and other light-emitting organisms. Using this chemical, scientists could see where cancer cells had spread within the mouse’s body simply by looking for areas that lit up. The technique may one day be used as a probe for cancer.
Source: NIGMS Biomedical Beat - Category: Research Source Type: news