A new method for cancer detection based on diffusion reflection measurements of targeted gold nanorods

Rinat Ankri, Vital Peretz, Menachem Motiei, Rachela Popovtzer, Dror FixlerFaculty of Engineering and the Institute of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan 52900, IsraelAbstract: This paper presents a new method for cancer detection based on diffusion reflection measurements. This method enables discrimination between cancerous and noncancerous tissues due to the intense light absorption of gold nanorods (GNRs), which are selectively targeted to squamous cell carcinoma head and neck cancer cells. Presented in this paper are tissue-like phantom and in vivo results that demonstrate the high sensitivity of diffusion reflection measurements to the absorption differences between the GNR-targeted cancerous tissue and normal, noncancerous tissue. This noninvasive and nonionizing optical detection method provides a highly sensitive, simple, and inexpensive tool for cancer detection.Keywords: molecular imaging, nanoparticles, EGFR targeted, tissues’ optical propertie