Glowing Nanoparticles Called Cornell Dots Detect Cancer Cells in Humans

The first clinical experiment of an innovative technology known as Cornell Dots has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to be tested in humans.

Cornell Dots are cancer-targeted, glowing and multimodal silica nanoparticles which get lit up when in contact with cancer cells in PET-optical imaging. Cornell dots have been recently accepted by the FDA as an investigational new drug (IND) for a clinical trial to be conducted for the first time in humans.

This clinical innovation emerges as a collaborated work of researchers from the Cornell University, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), and a Cornell business start-up named Hybrid Silica Technologies.

Cornell dots are very small silica spheres with a diameter of less than 8 nm and comprises dye molecules. The chemically inert small silica shell, mostly glass, easily passes through the body and can be expelled out through urine. For clinical purposes, polyethylene glycol (PEG) is coated over the dots, so that the body cells do not identify the dots as foreign bodies.

In order to make the dots attach to cancer cells, organic molecules that are binding either to tumor surfaces or particular locations within tumors, are fixed to the PEG shell. On exposing to near-infrared light, the dots shine brighter than the dye and help in detection of the target cells. Researchers state that by this innovation, clear visualization is possible during surgical treatment, displaying metastatic or invasive spread of tumor to lymph nodes and to distant organs. It can also highlight the degree of patient’s response to treatment.

Within its class, Cornell dots is the first FDA approved IND that has properties suitable for multi-purpose clinical tests, which include cancer diagnostics, therapeutic diagnostics, cancer staging and assessment of tumor through lymph node mapping, explained Bradbury.

The Cornell Dots were optimally designed for perfect renal clearance to enable the body to discharge them in the urine.

Apart from this, the researchers can detect particle clearance rates, execute all-time mapping of lymphatic drainage patterns, and perceptively identify nodal metastases.