Nanotech Could Cure Cancer?
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in ScienceWired has a report about The National Cancer Institute and the next wave of cancer fighting technologies:
The first cancer nanotech applications will likely involve detection. Nanoparticles could recognize cancer’s molecular signatures, gathering the proteins produced by cancerous cells or signaling the presence of telltale genetic changes. Researchers have already used a protein called albumin — considered a naturally occurring nanoparticle — to detect proteins found in ovarian cancer tissue.Other nanoparticles could adhere to cancerous cells and, when viewed under a magnetic resonance imager or fluorescent light, reveal cancers now hidden to our eyes.
“Nanotech gives us the opportunity to detect cancer tumors at 1,000 cells, whereas we’re now seeing them at 1 million cells. By the time you detect some cancers today, there’s no option of curing them, only of prolonging life,” said Sri Sridhar, director of Northeastern University’s Nanomedicine Science and Technology Program.
They even have a video!
This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 8th, 2005 and is filed under Science. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
November 8th, 2005 at 4:09 pm
I read something about a similar option recently, a researcher at Rice U was using carefully sized gold nanoparticles which migrate to and concentrate themselves in the less-well constructed blood vessels of tumors, where then they can be heated from outside the body using specific frequency light. Supposedly in a mouse tumor first phase clinical trial they had 100% remission.
http://www.media.rice.edu/media/NewsBot.asp?MODE=VIEW&ID=7304&SnID=452795533
Disclaimer: I’m a Rice U grad, but not connected with this.
November 8th, 2005 at 6:05 pm
Bragging is allowed. This is a blog after all…