<
A team of researchers at Stanford University has been using nanotechnology to kill cancer cells without harming healthy cells, through the introduction of microscopic synthetic rods called nanotubes into cancer cells. When the rods are exposed to infrared light rays from a laser, heat, killing the cell. Meanwhile, those cells lacking both rods undamaged.
According to a BBC article in Science, one of the researchers, Dr. Hongjie Dai, "One of the most consistent problems in medicine is how to cure cancer without harming normal tissues. Chemotherapy destroys cancer cells and normal cells ... . Therefore Often patients lose their hair and suffer numerous side effects. "
Tubules of coal used by the Stanford team measured only half the width of a DNA molecule,
and thousands of them fit inside a cell. Under normal circumstances, near-infrared light passes through the body without causing damage. But the Stanford scientists discovered that if you placed a solution of carbon nanotubes below a near infrared laser beam, the solution was heated to 70 degrees Celsius in two minutes. Then placed the tubules inside cells and watched as the heat generated by the laser beam smashed in no time.
According to Dr. Dai, "It's as simple as incredible. We are using a property of nanotubes to develop a weapon that kills cancer."
The researchers managed to enter the nanotubes in cancer cells but not in healthy cells taking advantage of the fact that, unlike normal cells, cancer cells are covered by the vitamin folate receptors. The scientists painted the nanotubes with folate molecules, which provided them with the step in cancer cells, but made it impossible to join normal cells. Exposure to laser beams managed to kill diseased cells but left normal cells intact.
Leave a Reply