Nanoparticles Technology Brings New Hope In Cancer Treatments
University of Arkansas at Little Rock and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences have come close to bringing up a cancer treatment that is not so invasive or exorbitant, yet far more effective.
Conventional cancer treatment forms like radiation, surgery and chemotherapy may find a substitute if we go by the conviction of the scientists at Little Rock. They are using carbon nanotubes for diagnosing and killing off malignant cells.
Lead researchers Dr. Alex Biris, chief scientist with UALR’s Nanotechnology Center, and Dr. Vladimir Zharov, director of the laser and nanomedicine labs of the Winthrop Rockefeller Cancer Institute at UAMS declared the research which is published in the Journal of Biomedical Optics, at UALR. The technique developed by the scientists direct nanoparticles to the cancerous cells in which the particles attach to the damage cell thereby unveiling the identity of cancerous cells to therapists. A laser is utilized for destruction of the nanoparticles later.
Biris, Zharov and Dr. Ekaterina Glanzha of UAMS researched on injecting merely a single cancer cell comprising of carbon nanotubes into the tail vein of a test rat. Raman spectrometer technology is then used by the scientist to monitor and detect the moving nanoparticles in real time. With this technology the scientists is able to follow the circulation of the nanotubes through the rat’s blood vessels, lymphatic system, up to its ear.
According to Dr. Daniel Casciano, the project advisor, the new technology can branch out into something extraordinary. Casciano who is also the former director of the Food & Drug Administration’s National Center for Toxicological Research at Jefferson suggested that the line of treatment could ably substitute the conventional modes of treating cancer. He added that the discovery could end up in finding out about solid tumors, metastic cancer cells, personalized cancer therapies and a lot more.
The vanguard application of nanotube method would probably be for breast and prostate carcinoma. This is perhaps attributable to greater knowledge of these forms of cancer. It also remains to be seen whether the nanoparticles are moderately toxic or nearly non-toxic. Their successful transition from the tentative stage to the application stage is also sought with keen anticipation.