Golden Bullet for Cancer?

Gold;Image via Wikipedia

A good article on a form of nanoparticle called nanocages,which I hadn’t even heard of until I read this article on Science Daily!This technology looks promising as it achieved good results despite the fact that it had not been optimized.However it still has a way to go in terms of achieving more precise targeting to tumor cells.

“ScienceDaily (Mar. 16, 2010) — In a lecture he delivered in 1906, the German physician Paul Ehrlich coined the term Zuberkugel, or “magic bullet,” as shorthand for a highly targeted medical treatment.Magic bullets, also called silver bullets, because of the folkloric belief that only silver bullets can kill supernatural creatures, remain the goal of drug development efforts today.A team of scientists at Washington University in St. Louis is currently working on a magic bullet for cancer, a disease whose treatments are notoriously indiscriminate and nonspecific. But their bullets are gold rather than silver. Literally.….”

“We saw significant changes in tumor metabolism and histology,” says Welch, “which is remarkable given that the work was exploratory, the laser ‘dose’ had not been maximized, and the tumors were ‘passively’ rather than ‘actively’ targeted.”“

Read the rest of the article on Science Daily by clicking here.

More Information on Nanocages:

• Nanocages on Wikipedia

• Jingyi Chen, Fusayo Saeki, Benjamin J. Wiley, Hu Cang, Michael J. Cobb, Zhi-Yuan Li, Leslie Au, Hui Zhang, Michael B. Kimmey, Xingde Li, and Younan Xia (2005). “Gold Nanocages: Bioconjugation and Their Potential Use as Optical Imaging Contrast Agents”. Nano Lett. 5 (3): 473–7. doi:10.1021/nl047950t
• Nanoparticles on Wikipedia
• Article on nanocages at Physorg
• InternetChemsitry article on making nanocages
• Discover Magazine overview of story

Video on gold nanoparticles:

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Reveiw on Targeting of Drugs and Nanoparticles to Tumors

Nice review in the Journal of Cell Biology on the targeting of drugs and nanoparticles to tumors.

Excerpt:

“The concept of targeted drug delivery is attractive because it recapitulates some of the advantages of topical application of drugs: high local concentration and low systemic exposure. In practice, this approach has met with some success but has not provided the hoped-for “silver bullets.” However, recent developments in the field have rekindled interest in the targeting approach. We call this mode of drug delivery “synaphic” targeting; it is also referred to as pathotropic or active targeting. Cancer stands out as a disease most likely to benefit from targeted drug delivery….”

To read the rest of the review click here.

More Information:

Video introducing  nanotechnology:

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