Nanoparticles used to zap tumours
22 Jul 10
Cancer tumours can be eliminated using nanoparticles and laser energy, experiments have shown.
US scientists at Wake Forest University in North Carolina said once nanotubes containing tiny grains of iron are injected into the bloodstream and carried to the tumour, they can be hit with pulses of laser energy which causes them to heat up and destroy the cancer.
The scientists demonstrated the concept in laboratory experiments on mice with breast cancer.
Particles used in the study were Multi-walled Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNTs) - hollow carbon threads 10,000 times thinner than a human hair. As they are loaded with iron, tracking them using a Magnetic Resonance Imaging scanner is possible.
Once their position at a cancer site is known, they can be accurately targeted by the laser.
Researcher Xuanfeng Ding, who presented the results at the American Association of Physicists in Medicine's annual meeting in Philadelphia, said: "To find the exact location of the nanoparticle in the human body is very important to the treatment.
"It is really exciting to watch the tumour labelled with the nanotubes begin to shrink."
Copyright © Press Association 2010
http://www.aapm.org/ (American Association of Physicists in Medicine)
This story has been viewed 144 times.