Breast cancer cells exhibits specific dielectric signature in vitro using the open-ended coaxial probe technique from 200 MHz to 13.6 GHz (original) (raw)
Here we investigated the feasibility of using microwave spectroscopy for characterization of normal and breast cancer cell lines cultured in vitro. Healthy non-tumorigenic, MCF-10A and breast cancer, MDA-MB-231, Hs578T, T47D and MCF-7 cell lines were electrically characterized using the openended coaxial probe technique from 200 MHz to 13.6 GHz. The dielectric constant, dielectric loss and conductivity between breast non-tumorigenic and breast cancer cells lines were analyzed and their differences determined. Our results showed that the four breast cancer cell lines analyzed exhibited higher dielectric properties when compared to healthy cells. Interestingly, we found that breast and colon cancer cells have different dielectric properties as well, thus suggesting that each type of cancer has a unique microwave signature. This study shows that microwave characterization of breast cancer cell lines is reliable with potential in biomedical applications such as designing electromagnetic models for detection of tumorous cells in healthy tissues. Cancer originates when certain genetic abnormalities arise in a cell or group of cells. Such cells do not respond to normal signaling system of the body and hence divide and multiply uncontrollably forming bulk cancerous tissues. Cancer can be classified depending on the type of cell in which they originate. Breast, lung and colorectal cancers are the most common cancer types with highest incidence rates worldwide. The increased incidence of cancer is a subject of major concern worldwide. Timely diagnosis of cancer can help in more effective treatment and reduction in mortality rate. Microwave based cancer diagnosis and treatment is one of the most relevant areas of research nowadays. Such research stems from the basic knowledge about the considerable contrast in the dielectric parameters of normal and cancerous tissues 1,2. The larger dielectric properties of cancerous tissues arise mainly from its increased water content and can contribute to the increased scattering of microwaves. An extensive amount of studies has been carried out to electrically characterize living tissues using microwave spectroscopy techniques 3-17. Some of the earliest dielectric studies using open ended coaxial probe method were performed on animal tissues. Joines et al. measured electrical properties of rat tissues from 30 MHz to 2 GHz 3 , whereas Stuchly et al. characterized ex vivo cat tissue samples from 0.01 to 1 GHz 4. The dielectric studies were later extended to human tissues. Joines et al. reported dielectric characterization of different types of human tissues ex vivo from 50 to 900 MHz 5. It was estimated that the contrast in permittivity and conductivity between malignant tissues and normal tissues was 6.4:1 and 3.8:1, respectively. Lazebnik et al. performed the most extensive study to characterize breast tissues from 0.5 to 2 GHz 11,12. His experiments unveiled the variation of breast tissue dielectric properties with respect to breast heterogeneity and adipose content. Martellosio et al. successfully evaluated breast tissue dielectric properties over a broad frequency range up to 50 GHz 15-17 .
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