Scientists have developed a glowing dye that sticks to cancer cells and gives surgeons a “second pair of eyes” to remove them in real time and eradicate the disease permanently. Experts say the breakthrough could reduce the risk of cancer returning and prevent debilitating side effects.
The fluorescent dye illuminates tiny cancerous tissue that cannot be seen with the naked eye, allowing surgeons to remove every last cancer cell while preserving healthy tissue. This can mean fewer life-changing side effects after surgery.
The technique was developed by scientists and surgeons at the University of Oxford in collaboration with the California biotech company ImaginAb Inc and was funded by Cancer Research UK.
“We give the surgeon a second set of eyes to see where the cancer cells are and whether they have spread,” said Freddie Hamdy, professor of surgery at the University of Oxford. “With this technique, we can strip away all the cancer, including the cells that have spread from the tumor, which can give it a chance to come back later.”
In the first trial of its kind, 23 men with prostate cancer were injected with the marker dye before undergoing surgery to remove their prostate. The fluorescent dye highlighted the cancer cells and where they had spread to other tissues, such as the pelvis and lymph nodes.
A special imaging system was used to shine a light on the prostate and nearby regions, causing the prostate cancer cells to glow. The ability to see such details allowed the surgeons to remove cancer cells while preserving healthy tissue.
Details of the breakthrough was published on Monday 10 June in the European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging.
“This is the first time we have managed to see such fine details of prostate cancer in real time during surgery,” said Hamdy, the lead author of the ProMOTE study. “It also allows us to preserve as much of the healthy structures around the prostate as possible, to reduce unnecessary life-changing side effects such as incontinence and erectile dysfunction.
“Prostate surgery is life-changing. We want patients to leave the operating room knowing that we did everything possible to eradicate their cancer and give them the best quality of life afterwards. I believe this technique makes that possibility a reality.”
The procedure works by combining the dye with a targeting molecule known as IR800-IAB2M. The dye and marker molecule attach themselves to a protein called prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA), which is found on the surface of prostate cancer cells.
David Butler, 77, a retired sales development manager from Southmoor, Oxfordshire, is cancer-free after becoming one of 23 men to take part in the trial. Before the operation, scans indicated that his prostate cancer had started to spread.
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Butler, who is now fully recovered and healthy, said he was a “happy man” and was determined to “enjoy every moment of life”. He added: “I retired early to make the most of life’s pleasures: gardening, bowling and walking. Participating in the ProMOTE study has enabled me to have many more of those pleasures for years to come.”
Although the technique has been tested in patients with prostate cancer, it can be adapted to other forms of the disease. Experts hope that the dye can be used for other types of cancer by switching the protein with which it attaches to cancer cells.
Dr Iain Foulkes, executive director of research and innovation at Cancer Research UK, said: “Surgery can effectively cure cancer when it is removed at an early stage. But in those early stages it is almost impossible to tell by sight which cancers have spread locally and which have not.”
Further trials were now needed in larger groups of patients, but the combined marker dye and imaging system could “fundamentally transform” how we treat cancer in the future, Foulkes said.
“It is exciting that we may soon have access to surgical tools that can reliably eradicate prostate and other cancers and give people longer, healthier lives free of the disease.”
