Compound lights up spreading cancer cells

A new type of imaging compound can light up spreading cancer cells and may offer a way to track the spread of the disease, Japanese and US researchers reported on Sunday.

They used the new compound to monitor the spread of breast and ovarian cancer cells in living mice, using a tiny camera called endoscope.

"These compounds may allow clinicians to monitor a patient's response to cancer therapy by allowing them to visualize whether a drug hits its target and whether hitting it leads to shrinkage of the tumor," the US National Cancer Institute's Dr Hisataka Kobayashi, who helped lead the study, said in a statement.