For the first time scientists from the INM - Leibniz Institute for New Materials were able to visualise growth receptors from cancer cells using gold nanoparticles.

In contrast to normal cells which have a tight regulation for cell renewage the process of cell division in cancer cells continues unrestricted due to their natural cell death being abrogated. This happens because too many receptors for the growth factor EGF, which are located on the cell surface, couple in pairs. These pairs in turn induce an intracellular signalling chain that finally leads to uninhibited growth of the cells. Now for the first time scientists from the Leibniz Institute for New Materials (INM) were able to visualise this coupling of individual receptors in human cancer cells using gold nanoparticles. The results were recently published in the Online -Journal Scientific Reports.

Original Publication
D. Peckys, J.-P. Baudoin, M. Eder, U.Werner, N. de Jonge (2013). “Epidermal growth factor receptor subunit locations determined in hydrated cells with environmental scanning electron microscopy”. Scientific Reports 3 (2013), Article Number: 2626, doi: 10.1038/srep02626.