via medicalxpress.com
Researchers have developed cancer drug-packed ‘grenades’ armed with heat sensitive triggers, allowing for treatment to be targeted directly at tumours, according to two studies due to be presented at the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Cancer Conference in Liverpool.
The team based at the University of Manchester has been developing liposomes – small, bubble-like structures built out of cell membrane that are used as packages to deliver molecules into cells – to carry drugs into cancer cells. The challenge, as with any treatment, is to direct the liposomes and their payload directly to tumours while sparing healthy tissue.
Two new studies show the team has taken a step closer to solving this problem by fitting liposomes with a heat-activated trigger. By slightly heating tumours in the lab and in mouse models*, the researchers have been able to control when the pin is pulled so that the cancer-killing grenades release the drug and target the cancer.
Kostas Kostarelos, study author and professor of nanomedicine at the University of Manchester, said: “Temperature-sensitive liposomes have the potential to travel safely around the body while carrying your cancer drug of choice. Once they reach a ‘hotspot’ of warmed-up cancer cells, the pin is effectively pulled and the drugs are released. This allows us to more effectively transport drugs to tumours, and should reduce collateral damage to healthy cells.
“The thermal trigger is set to 42 degrees celsius, which is just a few degrees warmer than normal body temperature. Although this work has only been done in the lab so far, there are a number of ways we could potentially heat cancer cells in patients – depending on the tumour type – some of which are already in clinical use.”
Read more: Heat-activated grenade to target cancer
The Latest on: Cancer-killing grenade
[google_news title=”” keyword=”cancer-killing grenade” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: Cancer-killing grenade
- Cancer Newson November 28, 2023 at 4:00 pm
Nov. 29, 2023 — Scientists have developed an injectable or catheter-administered hydrogel with enhanced capabilities for treating hepatocellular carcinoma, a deadly form of liver cancer.
- Grenade detonates in Kyiv apartment, killing twoon November 19, 2023 at 5:00 pm
(Reuters) - A Ukrainian soldier and a woman died when a grenade exploded in a Kyiv apartment, police in the Ukrainian capital said, but the cause of the blast, which injured a second man ...
- Grenade detonates in Kyiv apartment, killing twoon November 19, 2023 at 4:00 pm
(Reuters) - A Ukrainian soldier and a woman died when a grenade exploded in a Kyiv apartment, police in the Ukrainian capital said, but the cause of the blast, which injured a second man, was not ...
- Heroic cancer patient threw himself on Hamas grenades during festival slaughter in bid to save others - and SURVIVED to tell the taleon October 21, 2023 at 12:19 am
A cancer patient heroically threw himself onto a grenade at a music festival where ... terrorist's compatriots started shooting at them, killing the militant while Mr Peri scrambled back inside.
- Cancer-killing virus shows promise in patientson September 24, 2022 at 11:09 am
One patient's cancer vanished, while others saw their tumours shrink. The drug is a weakened form of the cold sore virus - herpes simplex - that has been modified to kill tumours. Larger and ...
- Killing Cancer Cells stock videos and footageon October 7, 2021 at 10:36 pm
killing cancer cells stock videos & royalty-free footage T-Cells Work to Fight Cancer, Immunotherapy, CAR T-cell therapy, 3d renderin Dendritic Cell activate T cells, trigger immune responses, they ...
- Killing Cancer, part oneon March 29, 2015 at 4:45 pm
Killing Cancer, part one 60 Minutes follows brain cancer patients in a Duke University clinical trial of a therapy that uses a re-engineered polio virus to kill cancer cells. Scott Pelley reports.
via Bing News
