Quantum dots in cancer diagnosis

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• By Sharmistha Paul

Circulating tumour cells are of major importance in cancer diagnosis. These cells have the power to metastasise from the primary site to their target secondary site and hence by analysing them, we can devise an effective treatment procedure. This can be achieved with the help of quantum dots. Quantum dots are nanocrystals that are made up of a semi-conducting material of size 2-10 nm. They offer many optical and chemical advantages over other semiconductors, hence employing them in biomedical imaging and detection would help in studying cancer behaviour. The quantum dots in conjugation with antibodies are used to study the mechanism of metastasis of the cancer cells under in vivo conditions, i.e. inside the living cells. A particular tumour stage can also be diagnosed by this method. Real-time images of the cancer cells can be taken with the help of a laser microscope in this process. Although quantum dots offer good applications, certain toxicological and pharmacological issues limit their human application for in vivo cancer imaging. The application of these novel quantum dots in cancer diagnosis may revolutionise the cancer treatment in the near future if the issues related to biosafety are assessed systematically.

Keywords: Quantum dots, Cancer, Metastasis, Mechanism, Tumour, Toxicology, Pharmacology, Issues, Nanocrystals

Image source:
CdTe quantum dots under 365 nm UV light by Ruslan Ka, available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stem-cells-in-syringe-ama-regenerative-medicine.jpg

Citation:
Sharmistha Paul. Quantum dots in cancer diagnosis. The Torch. 2020. 1 (3).
Available from: https://www.styvalley.com/pub/magazines/torch/read/quantum-dots-in-cancer-diagnosis/.

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