A new way of watching tells doctors which cancer messages antibodies can actually reach

Some cancer cells send out tiny parcels, called vesicles, that carry signals around the body — and a protein on their surface, PD-L1, matters for treatment. Researchers at Kanazawa University have now watched, one vesicle at a time, whether antibodies can actually reach that protein, using a fast-scanning microscope that films the encounters in real time. In their study, published in Small Methods, vesicles from triple-negative breast cancer bound antibodies far more strongly and for longer than those from another cancer type — a difference that could one day help doctors match treatments to the parcels a patient's cancer really sends.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: tech innovation