Poster #052, University of California, Riverside
The Real Metal Detectors: ZnS:Mn Nanoparticles for Cancer Stem Cell Detection
Mentors: Allison Sander (Grad Student), Anannya Khanna (Grad Student), Karla Rodriguez Pequeno (Grad Student); PI: Huinan Liu, PhD
In the U.S., approximately 40% of people will develop cancer in their lifetime, with a third of these patients eventually dying from the disease. Metastasis, which causes cancer relapse in the body, is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) play a primary role in metastasis due to their indefinite self-renewal and slow division rate, which render ineffective conventional treatments that target only rapidly dividing cells. As a result, CSCs can remain in the body for decades, metastasize, and grow into new tumors, even while the patient has been deemed “cancer-free”. Compared to regular cancer cells and healthy cells, CSCs possess increased deformability, so they can easily squeeze through intercellular spaces and promote tumor relapses. However, the difference in their deformability may also be an advantage for treatment. ZnS:Mn nanoparticles are nanoscale particles whose crystalline phase causes them to luminesce in varying degrees depending on the amount of mechanical stress applied. The specific deformability of CSCs prompt a particular amount of luminescence in the attached nanoparticle, thereby becoming their identifying characteristic and allowing highly targeted treatment. In this project, ZnS:Mn nanoparticles were made through solvothermal synthesis. In the future, these nanoparticles can be surface modified, such as with a zwitterionic layer, to prevent clearance by the immune system before reaching and attaching to cells. Overall, ZnS:Mn nanoparticles can provide targeted tracking for CSC detection, lowering the risk of metastasis and cancer relapse.