Magnetically controlled nanoparticles cause cancer cells to self-destruct

Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have developed a technique to use magnetically controlled nanoparticles to force tumor cells to “self-destruct.” without harming surrounding tissue, as with radiotherapy, and tissues elsewhere in the body, as with chemotherapy.

“Our technique is able to attack only the tumor cells,” said Enming Zhang, first author of the study.

Source: Magnetically controlled nanoparticles cause cancer cells to self-destruct

New nanoparticle that only attacks cervical cancer cells

One of the most promising technologies for the treatment of various cancers is nanotechnology, creating drugs that directly attack the cancer cells without damaging other tissues' development. The Laboratory of Cellular Oncology at the Research Unit in Cell Differentiation and Cancer, of the Faculty of Higher Studies (FES) Zaragoza UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico) developed a therapy to attack cervical cancer tumors.

According to the researcher Rosalva Rangel Corona, head of the project, the antitumor effect of interleukin in cervical cancer is because their cells express receptors for interleukin-2 that "fit together " like puzzle pieces with the protein to activate an antitumor response .

The above story is based on materials provided by Investigación y Desarrollo.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140314212122.htm

Cancer: 'Tumour monorail' can lead cancers to their doom

Cancer "monorails" can be used to kill tumours by luring them into toxic pits or areas of the body that are safer to operate on, say US researchers.

A team at the Georgia Institute of Technology designed nanofibres thinner than a human hair which cancers "choose" to travel down.

One of the researchers Prof Ravi Bellamkonda said: "The cancer cells normally latch on to these natural structures and ride them like a monorail to other parts of the brain.

Prof Bellamkonda told the BBC: "It's a way of bringing the tumour to the drug, not the drug to the tumour.

"You can move a tumour along a path you specify and then kill it, it's not creating extra tumour and the primary tumour actually shrinks. "

Dr Emma Smith, senior science information officer at Cancer Research UK, said: "This fascinating, cutting-edge approach could lead to new ways of stopping tumours growing without damaging healthy tissue, which is particularly important for people with brain tumours.

"But it's still in its infancy and so far has only been tested in rats, so there is a long way to go before we know if it will be safe and effective as a cancer treatment."

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-26189827

Gene therapy 'could be used to treat blindness'

Surgeons in Oxford have used a gene therapy technique to improve the vision of six patients who would otherwise have gone blind. The operation involved inserting a gene into the eye cells, a treatment that revived light-detecting cells.The doctors involved believe that the treatment could in time be used to treat common forms of blindness.

Prof Robert MacLaren, the surgeon who led the research, said he was "absolutely delighted" at the outcome.

"The mechanisms of choroideremia and what we are trying to do with the treatment would broadly be applicable to more common causes of blindness," the professor explained.

"Choroideremia shows some similarities with macular degeneration in that we are targeting the same cells. We don't yet know which genes to target for macular degeneration but we do know now how to do it and how to put the genes back in."

Clara Aglen of the Royal National Institute of Blind People is also cautiously optimistic.

She told BBC News: "It is at an early stage at the moment, but it does offer hope for other conditions that have a genetic basis such as macular degeneration and glaucoma.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-25718064