Monday, 18th April 2005 (4569 views)

New research from the US has claimed that nanoshells made from gold could help find and destroy cancerous cells in humans.

Bioengineers Rebekah Drezek and Jennifer West worked together to develop a new approach to fighting cancer using nanoscale particles.

"You can look for a molecular marker that may indicate a significant clinical problem, but you can't do anything about it [just through imaging]," Ms Drezek explained.

"We don't want to simply find the cancerous cells. We would like to locate the cells, be able to make a rational choice about whether they need to be destroyed and, if so, proceed immediately to treatment."

The pair have developed a new imaging and treatment method that uses tiny spheres of silica coated with a thin layer of gold, known as nanoshells.

In this particular study the nanoshells were designed to look for breast cancer biomarkers on the surface of the cancer cells.

The researchers claim their new approach has a number of key advantages over other alternatives that are currently being developed.

Benefits from the new design are the better speed and lower costs involved with optical imaging and the better biocompatibility of gold nanoparticles compared to other nanoparticles.

"There is a prior history of the use of gold inside the body that makes the safety issues somewhat easier to address," Ms Drezek commented.

Gold is a chemically inert material and since it is well known for its biocompatibility it has been used in a number of medical applications in the past.

 

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