Pill that ‘lights up’ hidden breast cancer tumours

Scientists have developed a pill that makes tumours light up when exposed to infrared light, paving the way for a breast cancer diagnosis that is more effective than mammograms. Mammography is an imprecise tool. About a third of breast cancer patients treated with surgery or chemotherapy have tumours that are benign or so slowgrowing that they would never have become life-threatening, researchers said.

In other women, dense breast tissue hides the presence of lumps and results in deaths from treatable cancers. Mammograms are also notoriously uncomfortable. “We overspend USD 4 billion per year on the diagnosis and treatment of cancers that women would never die from,” said Greg Thurber, an assistant professor at University of Michigan in the US.

“If we go to molecular imaging, we can see which tumours need to be treated,” said Thurber, who led the team. The move could also catch cancers that would have gone undetected. Researchers used a dye that responds to infrared light to tag a molecule commonly found on tumour cells, in the blood vessels that feed tumours and in inflamed tissue.

By providing specific information on the types of molecules on the surface of the tumour cells, physicians can better distinguish a malignant cancer from a benign tumour. Compared to visible light, infrared light penetrates the body easily - it can get to all depths of the breast without an X-ray’s tiny risk of disrupting DNA and seeding a new tumour.