Wouldn’t it be cool if you could use a magnet to pull cancer cells away from normal tissue? But, you say, there aren’t tiny magnets in cancer cells. And besides, even if there were little magnetized cells, how could you tear them apart from a solid tumor?
You’d be correct on both counts, but not as imaginative as a research team from the Georgia Institute of Technology . To solve the first problem, Scarberry et al. took cobalt/iron (i.e., magnetic) nanoparticles and hooked them to a peptide that targets the surface of ovarian cancer cells ( Journal of American Chemical Society Web release : 9 July 2008).
When given to mice, the particles are taken up by free-floating cancer cells in the peritoneal (stomach) cavity. Apply a magnetic field and, voila, the nasty tumor cells head straight toward the magnet. Although not useful against a primary tumor mass, this might prove valuable in removing metastatic or residual cancer, both of which ca...
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Forget What You Learned in High School ChemistryFrom: periodictabloid.chemheritage.org
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Post Date: 2008-01-02 05:35:15
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