"For regular tumor detection right now there is a lot of misdiagnosis because you can't diagnose the early stage of the tumor growth," said Tung. "We've developed contrast agents so hopefully we can detect the signal from the tumor, and detect the tumor, earlier."
"It can be used to look for tumors, but it has much broader ramifications," said Weissleder.
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He said that the broader applications include looking for enzyme activities in other diseases, including autoimmune diseases and infections.
The scientists began experimenting about two years ago. They conducted their research at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, one of HMS' teaching hospitals.