Fighting Cancer and Ebola with Nanoparticles
Fighting cancer and Ebola with nanoparticles – Finding a substance that attacks cancerous tumors without destroying the healthy tissue around it has long been the Holy Grail in medicine.
From targeted remedies such as monoclonal antibodies to surgery, cancer has still managed to elude a treatment that discretely and separately attacks it alone. Nanotechnologies, however – the manipulation of matter at a molecular and even atomic scale to penetrate living cells — are holding out the promise of opening a new front against deadly conditions from cancer to Ebola.
Dr Thomas Webster, the chair of chemical engineering at Northeastern University in Boston, says that research on medical nanotechnology is making a lot of progress, and can help patients today and not some time in the future. His team is developing methods to attach gold nanoparticles to cancer cells, which can then destroy the diseased cells.
In another study, Dr, Webster’s team is looking at using selenium to attach to cancerous cells to destroy them. Tests in animals have been promising, and since selenium is a natural part of our diet, it may not be toxic, unlike anti-bacterial materials like gold and silver.
According to Dr. Webster, nanotechnologies would probably need to be used along with other therapies.
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