Breakthrough as jellyfish help in cancer battle

Early diagnosis is vital to the successful treatment of cancer but some can be difficult to spot because they are so small or deep-lying.

The method developed in the Yorkshire Cancer Research Laboratory at York harnesses the latest technology to pinpoint cancer cells.

Prof Norman Maitland, who has led the research team, said it could dramatically improve the early diagnosis of cancer.

"What we have developed is a process which involves inserting proteins derived from luminous jellyfish cells into human cancer cells. Then, when we illuminate the tissue, a special camera detects these proteins as they light up, indicating where the tumours are," he said.

The process is an extension of the work done by American chemist Roger Tsien who won a Nobel Prize in 2008 for taking luminous cells from a common jellyfish called the crystal jelly and isolating the green fluorescent protein which allows jellyfish to glow in the dark.

"When we heard about Dr Tsien's work, we realised how that advance might be useful in the diagnosis of cancer," said Prof Maitland.

"Cancers deep within the body are difficult to spot at an early stage and early diagnosis is critical for the successful treatment of any form of cancer.

"X-rays, for example, struggle to penetrate well deeply into tissues and bone, so diagnosing dangerous microscopic bone cancer is difficult. Our process should allow earlier diagnosis to take place."

The Yorkshire Cancer Research team has used an altered form of the protein so that it shows up as red or blue rather than its original green.

Colour is important for the tests, as most colours in the spectrum are rapidly absorbed and tumours deep within the body become invisible. Anyone who shines a torch through their hand, for instance, will only see the colour red.

In the procedure, viruses containing the proteins are targeted to home in on tiny bundles of cancer cells scattered throughout the body.

Normally this would not be enough to see the minute tumours which are too small to be seen by conventional scanning techniques, but the viruses then start to grow, and while doing so make more of the red fluorescent proteins.

Thousands of copies are made in each cancer cell, a process, which is repeated in the surrounding cells, as the virus infection spreads and then stops.

"When a specially developed camera is switched on, the proteins just flare up and you can see where the cancer cells are," said Prof Maitland.

"We call the process 'Virimaging'".

If the research continues to go according to plan, the method is expected to be ready for clinical trials within five years.

While the system works in the laboratory, one major hurdle is a shortage of specialised cameras.

Only one company, based in the United States, has so far designed and built a camera system which allows the jellyfish proteins to be seen with the desired resolution deep in the body. The camera costs about half a million pounds and Prof Maitland is currently raising the funds to buy one.

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