Magnetic microdiscs target and initiate cell death in tumors
Scientists working at Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago and The University of Chicago have developed an effective method to target and kill cancer cells using tiny magnetic discs.
The microdiscs, only one micron in diameter, work by disrupting the outer membranes and initiating chemical pathways that lead to apoptosis, or cell death. In laboratory tests, the microdiscs destroyed up to 90 percent of cancer cells after being activated for only 10 minutes.
One major drawback of chemotherapy drugs, widely used to treat cancers, is that they cannot be targeted to tumor cells. These drugs affect the entire body and often cause painful side effects such as hair loss, nausea, fatigue and a weakened immune system.
For several decades, scientists have been trying to develop nanoparticles that can deliver drugs specifically to cancer cells. Although several such methods are now being tested in clinical trials, practical hurdles still remain.
Up until now, effective treatments required high concentrations of magnetic particles and high levels of power to activate them. Both could cause harmful side effects in patients.
The new research offers a potential solution to many of these problems. The team studied an aggressive brain cancer called glioblastoma multiforme. The surfaces of these cancer cells, called glioma cells, contain a much higher concentration of a protein called IL13 than normal cells do.
The microdiscs, each 60 nm wide and 1000 nm in diameter, were made of an iron and nickel alloy, then coated with a thin gold veneer. Gold is both nontoxic to living tissues and easy to modify with organic molecules. The gold-covered microdiscs were then coated with antibodies that would recognize and bind to the overexpressed protein on glioma cells.
Once introduced into the body, or in this case a cell culture, the antibodies guide the microdiscs to attach to the surface of the cancerous glioma cells, but not healthy cells. About 10 microdiscs attached to each cancer cell.
The microdiscs, only one micron in diameter, work by disrupting the outer membranes and initiating chemical pathways that lead to apoptosis, or cell death. In laboratory tests, the microdiscs destroyed up to 90 percent of cancer cells after being activated for only 10 minutes.
One major drawback of chemotherapy drugs, widely used to treat cancers, is that they cannot be targeted to tumor cells. These drugs affect the entire body and often cause painful side effects such as hair loss, nausea, fatigue and a weakened immune system.
For several decades, scientists have been trying to develop nanoparticles that can deliver drugs specifically to cancer cells. Although several such methods are now being tested in clinical trials, practical hurdles still remain.
Up until now, effective treatments required high concentrations of magnetic particles and high levels of power to activate them. Both could cause harmful side effects in patients.
The new research offers a potential solution to many of these problems. The team studied an aggressive brain cancer called glioblastoma multiforme. The surfaces of these cancer cells, called glioma cells, contain a much higher concentration of a protein called IL13 than normal cells do.
The microdiscs, each 60 nm wide and 1000 nm in diameter, were made of an iron and nickel alloy, then coated with a thin gold veneer. Gold is both nontoxic to living tissues and easy to modify with organic molecules. The gold-covered microdiscs were then coated with antibodies that would recognize and bind to the overexpressed protein on glioma cells.
Once introduced into the body, or in this case a cell culture, the antibodies guide the microdiscs to attach to the surface of the cancerous glioma cells, but not healthy cells. About 10 microdiscs attached to each cancer cell.
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posted 1/06/10 @ 7:30 AM EST
I am using magnetic therapy myself, and so is my mom. It seems like magnetic therapy are really becoming popular. But now, your article seems to show a new benefit magnetic therapy can do for our health. (Continued…)
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