Vitacrystallography: appearance and development of cancer-induced structural biomarkers in a mouse model

Abstract

Structural biomarkers determined by X-ray scattering of the tissues can complement conventional diagnostics and provide a pathway for early detection of diseases. In the present study, mouse models were utilized to observe the progression of prostate cancer. We induced cancer in the left lobe of the mouse prostate, whilst the right lobe was left uninoculated. The mice were sacrificed at increasing systematic time points, and lobe samples were subsequently analyzed using X-ray scattering. Control samples were also collected from healthy mice sacrificed at the same time points. This investigation revealed that the ratio between the X-ray scattering peaks associated with the lipids and water can serve as a structural biomarker of cancer, and this biomarker develops as the tumor advances. The obtained cancer trajectory can serve as a baseline for the determination of the disease stage, and the biomarker movement along the trajectory can be evidence of the healing or disease progression.