Nano Bombs used to Heal from Cancer
Cancer is among the most common and deadliest disease spreading all over the world and the worst thing is that neither it is in control of the person nor can its symptoms be detected in early stages. A human can’t avoid this disease by his acts but thankfully this can be cured by a method called Chemotherapy.
Well now there is a new way to cure this disease.Researchers at North Carolina State University have successfully modified a common plant virus to deliver drugs only to specific cells inside the human body, without affecting surrounding tissue. These tiny “smart bombs” – each one thousands of times smaller than the width of a human hair – could lead to more effective chemotherapy treatments with greatly reduced, or even eliminated, side effects.
The researchers say that the virus is appealing in both its ability to survive outside of a plant host and its built-in “cargo space” of 17 nanometers, which can be used to carry chemotherapy drugs directly to tumor cells. The researchers deploy the virus by attaching small proteins, called signal peptides, to its exterior that cause the virus to “seek out” particular cells, such as cancer cells. Those same signal peptides serve as “passwords” that allow the virus to enter the cancer cell, where it releases its cargo.
Calcium is the key to keeping the virus’ cargo enclosed. When the virus is in the bloodstream, calcium is also abundant. Inside individual cells, however, calcium levels are much lower, which allows the virus to open, delivering the cancer drugs only to the targeted cells.
“Another factor that makes the virus unique is the toughness of its shell,” Lommel says. “When the virus is in a closed state, nothing will leak out of the interior, and when it does open, it opens slowly, which means that the virus has time to enter the cell nucleus before deploying its cargo, which increases the drug’s efficacy.”
The researchers believe that their method will alleviate the side effects of common chemotherapy treatments, while maximizing the effectiveness of the treatment.
Source: Eurekalert
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Posted on August 5th, 2010 at 5:57 pm