Virus helps show how cancer spreads

sea-maid submitted, created time 4 months 6 days (news.bbc.co.uk)

Scientists have used a common cold virus to "light up" prostate cancer tumors in different parts of the body. A University of California team has found that, when infected by a certain virus, mouse prostate cancer cells become remarkably easy to spot on scanners.

The research team says that the technique requires further development, but if these results extrapolate to humans, it could be a huge boon to cancer research, particularly in cases in which metastasis is suspected.

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UCLA researchers locate and image prostate cancer as it spreads to lymph nodes

kavin submitted, created time 4 months 1 week (newsroom.ucla.edu)

Using an engineered common cold virus, UCLA researchers delivered a genetic payload to prostate cancer cells that allowed them, using Positron Emission Tomography (PET), to locate the diseased cells as they spread to the lymph nodes, the first place prostate cancer goes before invading other organs.

The tiny cancer metastases in the pelvic lymph nodes are very difficult to find using conventional imaging tools such as CT scanning

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Runner's high proved non-mythical via PET scan

Darkfrog submitted, created time 7 months 3 weeks (www.nytimes.com)

Sit up, couch potatoes: the runner's high is real. Proving the yea or nea of the marathoner's mescalin has been difficult because, as one researcher put it, it's not such a good idea to give someone a spinal tap and then send 'em right off to run a 10K. Recently, someone came up with the bright idea of using PET scans (they copied off the dudes doing pain research).

This article is interesting more for the way in which the researchers applied existing technology to solve a problem than for the subject they're studying

3 comments | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: exercise running athletes sports drugs euphoria illegal drugs illicit drugs PET scans PET cognition perception