Scanning tumor cells

The report from the pathology lab came as quite a shock to 57-year-old Mauro Schmid*. The results showed that his colon cancer had metastasized. But he was fortunate that it was possible to eliminate the metastases with radiation.

When it comes to treating tumors it’s crucial to spot metastases as early as possible. This is particularly difficult if in the early stages it’s a matter of only a small number of isolated tumor cells. Conventional pathological methods involve taking slices only a few micrometers thick from a tissue sample at specific intervals and viewing them by eye under the microscope. The downside is that the tumor cells may go undetected between the slices examined under the microscope.

The team of researchers around Adriano Aguzzi, Director of the Institute of Neuropathology at University Hospital Zurich, has found a solution to the problem. They’re developing a completely new method of examining tissue. To do so they’re building a 3D microscope that scans tissue samples by laser. This eliminates the need to slice up the samples, as the whole sample can be examined. There’s no more risk of overlooking pathological changes.

The first microscope built by the team has already proven its worth. They’re using it to look into the efficacy of a potential Alzheimer’s drug, exploiting another of the equipment’s advantages: “The images from the 3D microscope are sharper than anything we’ve seen before,” explains Adriano Aguzzi. For this reason they intend to also use it with patients suffering from other diseases.

Thanks to a gift to the USZ Foundation from the Jimmy Wirth-Stiftung the team has been able to build a second 3D microscope. They can now scan tissue scans from colon cancer patients for metastases. This is particularly important for lymphatic tissue, where metastases usually form first.

If the method also works in these cases, the 3D microscope will become an important new pathological diagnostic tool giving hope to other patients like Mauro Schmid.

*anonymized