Unlike what was conventionally thought about metal detectors as being confined to identify foreign particles in food and pharmaceutical industries, over the years researchers have continuously expanded its scope in healthcare and have successfully introduced the metal detection techniques in detecting and studying cancer cells in human beings.
“It seems like, the benefits of metal detection technique are not just limited to airport security, mining, food and pharmaceutical companies, but in a recent study it has been revealed that it can also be used in healthcare for studying cancer tumours,” revealed P Satish, Technical Director, from PMG equipments in Hyderabad.
According to a new study conducted by the University of Southern California, a new metal detection technique can be successfully utilised for studying cancer cells for improving the precision of treatment.
By imaging metal-tagged antibodies on biopsies from a patient with metastatic prostate cancer, Bridge Institute researchers at the USC Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience have created highly detailed, digital facsimiles of cancer cells that can travel through the body.
According to Peter Kuhn, a Dean's Professor of Biological Sciences at the Bridge Institute at the USC Michelson Center, the metal tags enable scientists to identify and characterize the cancer cells in a blood sample after it is placed on a slide. "When the TSA swipes your hands, they are looking for metals, which are really easy to identify. The study has established the proof of concept for the metal-detection technique, which allowed scientists to see circulating and disseminated tumour cells at a molecular level in a way not possible before. Creating such highly detailed copies of tumours may help researchers develop more precise treatment plans for individual patients,” says Kuhn.
Through his work, Kuhn aims to shed new light on how cancer spreads through the body and evolves over time. Such discoveries have already led to better personalized care for patients, which tailor the treatment to the individuals as much as to their specific form of cancer.
Mapping cancer for precision medicine
The study examined whether scientists could achieve a better blueprint for the spread of the tumour, which is the most difficult phase of cancer. Cancer spreads via rare circulating and disseminated tumour cells that break away from their original source, such as tumours in the breast or the prostate, and travel through the body. These rogue tumour cells spread into organs, such as the liver or lungs, or into the bones, where they metastasize undetected, making effective treatment very challenging.
Until now, researchers have relied on fluorescence microscopy, staining cells with a fluorescent labelled antibody and then examining them with microscopes. Fluorescence microscopy is useful, but its routine use is limited in the number of colours available in a single experiment.
With the Fluidigm Hyperion Imaging System to monitor the biology of the cancer cells and understand how the cancer changes, scientists could see protein biomarkers that may determine how a tumour cell would respond to a drug therapy or why it would fail to respond, how it could spread and how it might affect the patient's immune system response.
The new approach of using metal-tagged antibodies and a laser ablation system, coupled with a mass spectrometer, give scientists the ability to track 35 different metal labels simultaneously. As a result, it provides 35 distinct views of the cancer cell's biology. "Often times, we sequence the cancer's genetic code, and that's great because the only way to build something like a building or a machine is with a blueprint. But not every blueprint ends up being built to specification or even performs as expected. For a closer perspective and for purposes of improving the precision of medical treatment, you have to move in, from genome to proteome to cell,” says Kuhn.
Detecting cancer
According to Kuhn, looking at cancer is like seeing a painting at different distances. From afar, it is looks like water lily paintings. But up close, nearly touching the canvas, one can see the individual points of paint in varying colours and shapes that comprise every object within the painting. When it comes to studying circulating and disseminated cancer cells, scientists need to see those points and be able to zoom in and out to fully grasp how they behave and spread.
They especially want to capture this picture just as they are determining the course of treatment, which the metal-tracing technique enables them to do within a liquid biopsy.
In fact using metal detectors for identifying cancer was first established by researchers at University of Zurich in the year 2013, wherein the researchers conceptualised the potential for using metals to characterize the cancer cells.
It was Bernd Bodenmiller, a researcher from University of Zurich who did some elegant work on how to use metals attached to an antibody. Taking this forward Kuhn and his team expanded on that by using his approach with the liquid biopsy developed previously by them. “We simply add the antibody cocktail, wait a while for binding and then wash off the excess and see what sticks - like tie dye. Then, you use a laser to atomize the sample and a mass spectrometer to look for each of the metals,” explains Kuhn.
Global markets for metal detectors
According to a new market report published by Lucintel, the future of the metal detector market looks attractive with opportunities in the government, commercial, consumer, food & beverage, pharmaceutical, and textile industries.
The global metal detector market is expected to reach an estimated $1.6 billion by 2022 and is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 5.1 per cent from 2017 to 2022. The major growth drivers for this market are rapidly increasing terrorist activities, expansion in infrastructure and increasing stringency in government compliances in various sectors to maintain high level of security and safety.
In this market, static and hand-held metal detectors are used to ensure the safety and security of people, assets, and critical infrastructure. Lucintel forecasts that static metal detector is expected to remain the largest segment due to increasing usage of metal detectors in the food and pharmaceutical industries, transit, educational buildings and hospitals. Hand-held metal detector is expected to witness the highest growth in the forecast period supported by the increasing demand for security in government and commercial sectors along with increasing consumer demand due to growing archaeological activities and hobbies.
Within the metal detector market, the industrial segment is expected to remain the largest end use industry due to stringent government regulations for consumer protection in food processing, pharmaceutical and chemical industries.
Lucintel predicts that the demand for metal detectors in security will witness the highest growth during the forecast period. This growth will be supported by government spending on security for ports, borders, and critical infrastructure to ensure safety from terrorism and crime. Another factor that adds to the growth of the security segment is increasing passenger traffic in airport.
Asia Pacific is expected to remain the largest market and will experience the highest growth over the forecast period supported by expansion of infrastructure. Factors influencing this are growth in the global economy, rise in the standard of living, and increasing tourism. The awareness regarding metal contamination in the food, pharmaceutical, and chemical industries also creates tremendous opportunities for metal detectors in China, Australia, India, and other countries.
Emerging trends, which have a direct impact on the dynamics of the industry, include increasing trend towards advancement in metal detector technology for superior performance and growing use of metal detectors in new applications such as sports and medical applications.
Mettler Toledo (Safeline), Codan (Minelab), CEIA (Costruzioni Elettroniche Industriali Automatismi S.p.A.), Garrett Metal Detectors, and Eriez Manufacturing Co. are among the major suppliers of metal detectors across the globe.