Photonic Material Helps Track Cancer Drug's Progress

BUFFALO, N.Y., Sept. 29 -- Researchers at the University at Buffalo and Tulane University have tracked in real time the path traveled by a cancer drug linked to a peptide hormone carrier as it is taken up by a human breast-cancer cell.
As reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the research demonstrates how new photonic materials developed at Buffalo have allowed scientists to image the cellular pathway of AN-152, a combination of the commonly prescribed chemotherapeutic agent doxorubicin linked to a luteinizing hormone-release hormone analog that makes the compound specific to such cancers as those of the ovary, breast, cervix and prostate. The scientists were able to track this compound through a human breast-cancer cell by combining it with a fluorescent probe (C625) synthesized in the laboratory of Paras Prasad, the executive director of Buffalo's Institute for Lasers, Photonics and Biophotonics, where the experimental work was conducted.