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March 14, 2015
GOLD-PLATED
NANO-PARTICLES SEEK AND DESTROY CANCER CELLS
In a recently
published study, researchers from Cornell University detail how they developed
gold-plated nano-particles that are able to find and destroy cancer cells.
Comparable to
nano-scale Navy Seals, Cornell scientists have merged tiny gold and iron oxide
particles to work as a team, then added antibody guides to steer the team
through the bloodstream toward colorectal cancer cells. And in a nanosecond,
the alloyed allies then kill the bad guys ~ cancer cells ~ with absorbed
infrared heat.
This scenario
is not science fiction ~ welcome to a medical reality.
“It’s a
simple concept. It’s colloidal chemistry. By themselves, gold and iron-oxide
alloys are benign and inert, and the infrared light is low-power heating,” said
Carl Batt, Cornell’s Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor of Food Science and the
senior author on the paper. “But put these inert alloys together, attach an
antibody to guide it to the right target, zap it with infrared light and the
cancer cells die. The cells only need to be heated up a few degrees to die.”
.
.
Batt and his
colleagues ~ Dickson K. Kirui, Ph.D. ’11, a postdoctoral fellow at Houston
Methodist Research Institute and the paper’s first author; Ildar Khalidov,
radiology, Weill Cornell Medical College; and Yi Wang, biomedical engineering,
Cornell.
For cancer
therapy, current hyperthermic techniques ~ applying heat to the whole body ~
heat up cancer cells and healthy tissue, alike. Thus, healthy tissue tends to
get damaged.
This study
shows that by using gold nano-particles, which amplify the low energy heat
source efficiently, cancer cells can be targeted better and heat damage to
healthy tissues can be mitigated. By adding the magnetic iron oxide particles
to the gold, doctors watching MRI and CT scanners can follow along the trail of
this nano-sized crew to its target.
.
.
When a
near-infrared laser is used, the light penetrates deep into the tissue, heating
the
nano- particle to about 120 degrees Fahrenheit ~ an ample temperature to kill many targeted cancer cells. This results in a threefold increase in killing cancer cells and a substantial tumour reduction within 30 days, according to Kirui. “It’s not a complete reduction in the tumour, but doctors can employ other aggressive strategies with success. It also reduces the dosage of highly toxic chemicals and radiation ~ leading to a better quality of life,” he explained.
nano- particle to about 120 degrees Fahrenheit ~ an ample temperature to kill many targeted cancer cells. This results in a threefold increase in killing cancer cells and a substantial tumour reduction within 30 days, according to Kirui. “It’s not a complete reduction in the tumour, but doctors can employ other aggressive strategies with success. It also reduces the dosage of highly toxic chemicals and radiation ~ leading to a better quality of life,” he explained.
The study was
funded in part by the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, and Kirui was
supported by a Sloan Foundation Graduate Fellowship.
Very interesting medical discovery. Now they can CAUSE more cancer to make even more $ curing it for a change, instead of just treating it and hoping it won't kill the patient, not just the tumor.
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