Deadly Accurate Cancer Killers
Small carbon missiles target cancer and signal the beginning of the end for chemo’s uncomfortable side effects.
The negative side of conventional cancer killing techniques like chemotherapy is the destruction of surrounding non-cancerous cells during the course of the treatment regiment, triggering nausea, rashes, and hair loss.
The Cure is to eliminate cancerous cells while leaving adjacent non-cancerous cells untouched. The answer depends on hollow orbs of carbon polymer each 1,000 times smaller than the head of a pin. Omid Farokhzad of Harvard University and Robert Langer of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are inserting small amounts of chemotherapy drugs into these orbs, known as nanoshells
It’s important that the orbs only contact the cancerous cells; to make this possible the scientists impregnate the outer surface with filaments of molecules, referred to as aptamers, which attach only to proteins that grow from cancerous growths. Acting like the GPS in your cell phone, aptamers Sheppard the transfer of the particles to the cancerous cells. Arriving at the surface of the cancerous cell at a specified place, aptamers offload their anti-cancer payload inside the suspect cells, eliminating them in the process – without destroying healthy cells during the treatment.
Ready for battle? We can expect these precision-guided cancer killers sometime within the next decade say Langer and Farokhzad. Langer and Farokhzad published research this year indicating that their nano-orbs eliminate tumours in mice, but point out that three years of animal studies are needed to authenticate their research. Additional testing of human subjects will take up to five years or more. They say the wait will be worth it – associate researchers think the left-right combination of nano-particles and aptamers will be the future of medicines final victory over cancer.
Bonus research? Langer and Farokhzads’s research has spin-offs in the area of heart-disease detection. Shelby Caruthers of Washington University in St. Louis has outfitted their nano-spheres with gadolinium atoms. Inserted into the body, the nano-particles group around arterial plaques – a hallmark of cardiovascular disease – and signal while undergoing an MRI scan, pinpointing the area for treatment.
Warren Hayashi
