Changes in electrical
impulses could be used to detect the first signs of tumour growth in the
future, allowing cancer treatment to begin much quicker.
A team of scientists at the University of Warwick used supercomputers to
compile a list of the electronic changes caused by mutations in everyone of the
162 cancer-related genes.
They saw how these alterations may help the tumours avoid the attention of
the body's immune system.
Professor Rudolf Roemer from the Department of Physics at the educational
establishment said: "We found that those mutations which had the smallest
change in electronic properties correspond to those mutations which we know to
have caused cancer in real life."
He explained that these properties make it hard for conventional drugs to
track them and compared the mutations to the stealth technology used in some
military aircraft.
According to Cancer Research UK, there are more than 200 different types of
the disease, each with their own specific causes.
© Adfero Ltd
Cancer treatment news : 22 February 2012
