Study: Transparent Mice Can Offer Insight in Cancer Treatment

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Facts

• Scientists at the Helmholtz Munich research center have developed a new scanning technique using transparent mice that can revolutionize cancer treatment by detecting tumors that have previously been far too small to identify.¹
• Prof. Ali Ertürk first created a way to turn mice translucent in 2018, and his team at Helmholtz Munich has chemically highlighted certain tissues, enabling them to scan mice with unprecedented precision. The new technique has only been used on dead mice but can provide information on cancer progression.²
• Many cancer drugs are used on mice before being used in human trials, and testing done on transparent mice with the new chemical highlighting method has allowed researchers to detect tumors as a single cell. This gives researchers unprecedented insight to study the disease’s progression from its earliest stage.³
• Prof. Ertürk says that while “MRI and PET scans would show you only big tumours [sic],” his new method gives far more detail. The new method, which only needs to be tested on a few mice, can track how cancer treatment is working and provide a deeper understanding of the drug.⁴
• Prof. Ertürk’s team has also produced a suite of videos along with 3D images that allow other researchers to study the mouse’s nervous system, gut, or lymph system without having to use a new animal. Ertürk says this could reduce lab animal use tenfold.⁵
• The novel method uses standard antibodies to map the mice’s bodies with fluorescent markers. Scientists use chemicals to remove fat and pigments before loading the rodent’s body with standard antibodies, which are picked up by scanners.⁶

Sources: ¹Benzinga, ²Science Times, ³Mint, ⁴Cnbctv18.Com, ⁵BBC News and ⁶IFLScience.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Dhakatribune. Mice are an integral part of scientific research, and mouse-involved studies have been the bedrock of some of the most important discoveries relating to the human body. The latest study involving transparent mice could be yet another indispensable contribution, as researchers will now be able to detect cancerous tumors at the most microscopic levels and study their progression. Additionally, the imaging and videos from the new method will allow extensive research while greatly reducing the number of animals used in scientific studies.
• Narrative B, as provided by PETA. Humans have been abusing mice and other animals for their own curiosity for far too long without any regard for the damage and abuse they are inflicting on innocent animals. Researchers inject mice with cancer and genetically alter them in unimaginable ways. There must be other methods developed to advance medical research in more humane ways without utilizing mice and other laboratory animals.