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takyon writes:

KurzweilAI.net reports on a potential nanoparticle-based treatment for cancer:

Researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center have developed nanoparticles that swell and burst when exposed to near-infrared laser light.

These "nanobombs" may be able to kill cancer cells outright, or at least stall their growth — overcoming a biological barrier that has blocked development of drug agents that attempt to alter cancer-cell gene expression (conversion of genes to proteins). These kinds of drug agents are generally forms of RNA (ribonucleic acid), and are notoriously difficult to use as drugs for two main reasons:

• They are quickly degraded when free in the bloodstream.
• When ordinary nanoparticles are taken up by cancer cells, the cancer cells often enclose them in small compartments called endosomes, preventing the drug molecules from reaching their target, and degrading them.

In this new study, published in the journal Advanced Materials, the researchers packaged nanoparticles with the RNA agent (drug) and ammonium bicarbonate, causing the nanoparticles to swell (as it does in baking bread) three times or more in size when exposed to the heat generated by near-infrared laser light. That causes the endosomes to burst, dispersing the therapeutic RNA drug into the cell.

[...] Near-infrared light can penetrate tissue to a depth of one centimeter or more, depending on laser-light wavelength and power (see "'Golden window' wavelength range for optimal deep-brain near-infrared imaging determined"). For deeper tumors, the light would be delivered using minimally invasive surgery.

A Near-Infrared Laser-Activated "Nanobomb" for Breaking the Barriers to MicroRNA Delivery [abstract]

Original Submission