At Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU), researchers have created the first metal-based probes for spotting dopamine receptors. While dopamine is best known as a neurotransmitter that plays a major role in defining our mood, dopamine receptors seem to be related to certain cancers. To study this relationship, a technique that can work on living animals to identify dopamine receptors would go a long way.
“Early detection is crucial for improving the survival rate of hard-to-treat cancers such as lung cancer, which is associated with dopamine receptor expression,” said Dr Edmond Ma, a professor at HKBU. “For instance, data from the American Cancer Society shows that patients with early stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have a five-year survival rate of about 92%, but this drops to only about 36% when the cancer has progressed to an advanced stage. We therefore believe that these dopamine receptor probes show great promise for the development of molecular diagnostic tools for the early detection of cancer.
Study in journal Chemical Science: Cell imaging of dopamine receptor using agonist labeling iridium(III) complex…
Via: HKBU…