Shedding Infrared Light on Esophageal Disease

Barrett’s Esophagus (BE) occurs when the cells that normally line the esophagus – the tube that connects our throat to our stomach – are replaced by cells that resemble those that line the intestine, leading in some cases to esophageal cancer. Luca Quaroni, a researcher at the Canadian Light Source and Dr. Alan Casson, Head of the Department of Surgery in the University of Saskatchewan’s     College of Medicine used the CLS’s  infrared microscope to identify Barrett’s esophagus cells from their unique chemical fingerprint. The finding was published in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal,        The Analyst.

While BE only affects approximately 1 percent of North Americans, the number of people diagnosed with the condition is on the rise, with the increasing incidence of chronic heartburn (gastro-esophageal reflux disease or GERD) which is considered a risk factor for developing BE. The condition, in turn, can lead to an aggressive form of cancer known as esophageal adenocarcinoma.

Diagnosing the BE depends on the skill and experience of individual pathologists examining biopsy samples from patients, using subjective criteria. Using the synchrotron’s infrared microscope and technique called Fourier-transform Infrared (FTIR) Microscopy, Quaroni and Casson were able to identify the specific chemicals – known as biomarkers – that are present within the individual cells that make up esophageal tissue afflicted  with BE, essentially fingerprinting the disease. In particular, it was found that the BE cells were rich in glycoproteins.

“The advantage of using microscopes with synchrotron light is that it allows us to identify the biomarkers inside specific cells,” explained Quaroni. “FTIR is traceable and it is objective. We can record the spectrum from individual cells, feed it through the computer and independently confirm the pathology.”

The idea for the experiment arose when Casson approached Quaroni about the      possibility of using the synchrotron to see if it was possible to identify any differences between healthy and diseased tissue. Sceptical at first, Quaroni was surprised at the results.

“Often the differences between healthy and malignant tissue can be quite small, but the differences seen here were quite striking,” said Quaroni. “This is a good proof of concept for developing a reliable technique that matches what can be seen at the macroscopic scale using microscopic samples.”

Reference:  L. Quaroni and A. Casson, 2009. Characterization of Barrett esophagus and esophageal adenocarcinoma by Fourier-transform infrared microscopy. The Analyst. 134, pp. 1240-1246. DOI: 10.1039/b820371d.

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Last modified: 2009-11-18 14:11:43