The US university is trialing a scheme in which cells can be destroyed by inserting nanotubules inside them and then applying heat. Researchers have successfully destroyed cells in the lab using the novel method and are now looking for ways to target the nanotechnology at cancer cells in living tissue while avoiding healthy cells.
In testing the novel approach to combating cancer, researchers at the Californian university have inserted microscopic synthetic rods called carbon nanotubules into cancer cells. The rods, which are half the width of a DNA module, then kill the targeted cells on absorbing the heat from a near-infra red light. Because of their tiny dimensions thousands of rods can be inserted into each cancer cell.
The advantage of the new system is that in theory it is cell specific, so healthy cells would not be affected by the treatments because the heat induced destruction only occurs in cells in which the nanotechnology is placed.
The potentially revolutionary system could become the long term replacement to current cancer treatment standard chemotherapy, for which the draw back has been the inability to avoid destroying healthy cells while killing cancerous ones.
Researchers must now devise a way to ensure that only cancer cells are invaded when apply the nanotubules to the body. The team is currently working on attaching antibodies to the nanotubules to achieve this goal.