TEHRAN - A group of researchers, led by an Iranian scientist, have successfully analyzed the chemical composition of individual human cells. This method can help with an earlier detection of cancer and a more efficient treatment, according to Mehr News Agency.

A malignant tumor is typically a diverse collection of cancer cells and immune cells. Although immune cells are responsible for fighting tumors, sometimes some of them change their behavior and collaborate with cancer cells.

This heterogeneity of cells poses a challenge in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. With only a small portion of cancer cells becoming resistant to chemotherapy or a group of immune cells taking on the role of tumor enhancers, cancer treatment can fail and there will be no more hope for the patient.

Conventional laboratory methods often do not have the capability to identify cellular diversity in biopsy samples, and unfortunately, until now, studying the chemical status of individual cells and differentiating them has not been possible. This makes the accurate and early diagnosis of cancers quite difficult and unmanageable.

In this regard, a research group led by Alireza Mashaghi, an Iranian physician, physical chemist, and a professor at Leiden University, has managed to perform a chemical analysis of individual human cells for the very first time in history.

The breakthrough, which is considered a milestone in the field of analytical chemistry, enables single-cell biopsies in laboratories. During the research, mass spectrometry and artificial intelligence were used to first measure the chemical molecules or metabolites of a human cell with high precision, and then extract the chemical patterns of different cells from complex spectral data. AI played a significant role during several steps of the research.

The new scientific advancement essentially enables the identification of anti-tumor immune cells as well as tumor enhancers.

Also, researchers were able to measure the chemical content of an immune cell called macrophage and accurately differentiate between tumor-suppressing or tumor-enhancing macrophages. This is the first time that metabolite measurement, or metabolomics, has been performed on an immune cell.