Nanoparticles: The Golden Bullet for Cancer Treatment
27 January 2007Cancer patients who have only had options such as radiation therapy or chemotherapy to treat their disease now have a new choice from the world of Nanotechnology: Nanoparticles that act as as “gold nanobullets” and “nanobombs.” If it sounds like something out of the world of science fiction, it isn’t. In principle Nanoparticles perform the same function as conventional radiation, to attack and destroy the cancerous cells. Nanoparticles promise to accomplish the same task more effectively however.The process used is called “nanophotothermolysis”.
That’s a big word, but it breaks down easily. “Thermo” means heat, and “molysis” means to break down. Photo means light of course, and with the “nano” prefix, it basically means using Nanotechnology to generate enough heat to break down a substance to its constituent components. Directed laser energy is used to heat up the Nanoparticles until they explode, in the aftermath of which localized cancer cells get destroyed without damaging healthy cells nearby.
In order for the therapy to work, the Nanoparticles must target only cancerous cells and avoid healthy cells. The property that identifies a cell as being cancerous is a protein known as epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). This protein surrounds the cancerous cell, but is not found in abundant quantities in the healthy cancerous cells. The Nanoparticles attach themselves to the antibody for the EGFR and then destroy the cancer cell without damaging healthy tissue. In these experiments “gold” Nanoparticles were used, and had the effect of making the cancerous cells shine.
Several after effects contribute to the destruction of cancer cells using Nanoparticles. These include acoustic shock waves from the explosion, optical plasma and particle fragmentation. Research continues in this area with promising results for killing cancer cells without destroying healthy cell tissue.
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Are there any studies using this technology? How would one find out additional information about such? Time is critical, the cancer is advancing rapidly. Thanks, Linda