Technicolour Tumours

In validating the efficacy of new cancer drugs, the ability to visualise and monitor tumour growth is key. Imaging techniques and biomarkers give scientists the tools they need to capture and track tumorous cells, helping them determine how the cancer is growing and how it can be stopped. The maps pictured are of breast cancer cells following a treatment of bevacizumab and chemotherapy. Cancers need a blood supply to survive and develop. Bevacizumab works by blocking a protein that helps the cancer’s blood vessels to grow. Using diffuse optical spectroscopic imaging, scientists were able to distinguish the patients that responded well to treatment by mapping the distribution – and decline - of the tumour cells over time.

Written by Yalda Javadi

Yalda Javadi

Writer

Yalda recently hung up her lab coat to venture into the exciting world of science communication. She’s currently the Senior Grant Communications Officer at Great Ormond Street Hospital and runs her own science and art magazine.

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• Image by Shigeto Ueda and colleagues
• Saitama Medical University, Japan
• Originally published under a Creative Commons Licence (BY 4.0)
• Research published in PLOS One, June 2014