Implanting a polymer scaffold in mice that have tumours captures spreading cancer cells, enabling their early detection.

Lonnie Shea at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and his colleagues placed human breast-cancer cells in mice and implanted the scaffolds in their abdomens a week later. Two weeks after cell transplantation, the researchers detected cancer cells in the scaffolds but not in the lungs or liver, where breast cancer often spreads. After 28 days, mice with scaffolds had fewer tumours in their lungs than did animals without scaffolds. And using an imaging technique, the team measured changes in the tissue properties within the scaffold that indicated the presence of cancer cells.

An inflammatory response to the scaffold attracted the cancer cells. This approach could eventually be used in humans to detect the early spread of cancer, the authors say.

Nature Commun. 6, 8094 (2015)