In what could lead to more effective cancer diagnosis and treatment, Stanford University School of Medicine researchers have used a molecular probe that makes cancer cells in animals glow.

The probe uses a molecule that seeks out proteases, or protein-destroying enzymes, that makes the cancer cells beam out a near-infrared light that can be seen through the skin with a special camera.

The technique may lead to more efficient, less invasive detection of cancer cells.

Results of the research were published Sunday in Nature Chemical Biology.

"Nowadays the detection of cancer, breast cancer for instance, is normally done through mammography, using X-rays -- which might actually increase your risk of cancer," said Galia Blum, a postdoctoral scholar in pathology and lead author of the research study.

"The next generation of our studies will apply the probes during surgery," said Matthew Bogyo, senior author of the study and assistant professor of pathology. "It would be nice to 'paint' it on tissues so you could distinguish between tumor and non-tumor."

The researchers will do more tests on animals before requesting permission from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to do a human trial.

Eventually, the molecular probe could be used to diagnose and treat non-cancer diseases that also involve proteases, such as Alzheimer's and arthritis.

-- Don Kazak