Gold shells can kill inoperable tumours

Telegraph (UK) ^ | 04/11/2003 | Roger Highfield

[nickcarraway]

Tiny golden "nanoshells" offer a new way to kill inoperable tumours without harming surrounding tissue, according to a study published today.

The shells, which consist of glass coated with gold, are called nanoshells because they are a few billionths of a metre (a nanometre) across, and mark another example of the burgeoning field of nanotechnology.

A Texan team, led by Dr Jennifer West at Rice University, claims that the shells could be used to treat tumours which have been hard to target until now.

Most solid tumours are removed by surgery but there are some that are impossible to remove because they are so small, mingled with surrounding tissue or located within a vital organ or tissue.

There are ways to deal with inoperable tumours but they often damage healthy tissue too. Now Dr West's team has found a way to kill these cells by combining two harmless treatments - nanoshells and infrared (heat) laser light which passes harmlessly through normal tissue.

In today's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr West says her team designed the nanoshells to absorb this particular frequency of near-infrared light. The nanoshells warmed rapidly so that they could be used selectively to "cook" and kill tumours.

[nickcarraway]

ping

[sourcery]

"Do not meddle in the affairs of Wizards, for they are subtle, and quick to anger!"

Sounds like "goldbug" propaganda to me :-) [Just kidding]

[Orange1998]

I hope they find a cure for cancer and soon. Sounds like medicine is gaining ground.

[Sloth]

I've heard of this elsewhere. Even if this particular technology doesn't pan out, I predict a HUGE leap in nano-medicine in the next quarter century.

[Petronski]

Wow, just another reason to buy gold!

I sense some goldbuggery.

[Wacka]

It is hard. Basically every kind of cancer is like a different disease.

Different tumor types can have different oncogenes activated. Oncogenes are genes that are active in development, but are turned off after birth. Something damages the promoter (switch) and the gene turns on. There are also a few tumor supressor genes that are normally on after birth that keep the oncogenes turned off and if damaged, can cause tumors (ex: retinoblastoma).

That is why there will very likely be no one "cure" for cancer.

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

True but every advance will save many lives.

[constitution]

as I have colorectal cancer. I have been trying to keep up to snuff on the advances in treating cancer.
This treatment has been mentioned before, but I had forgotten where I saw it.
Now I will do more research and see at what stage of development it is.
I have 2 more chemo treatments and then will probably
get some radiation treatments. The chemo has shrunk my tumors as much as it will, so have to do radiation.
The chemo had no side-effects, but radiation has definite side-effects.
Thanks for the post.

[scooter2]

Tiny golden "nanoshells"

Are they fired buy tiny gold nanocannons?

[norraad]

They're in that fancy vodka, aren't they?

Or is it Gin?

[fire_eye]

There is something very interesting about mesothelioma which I think is being missed... It's caused by asbestos, which is a relatively inert mineral substance. The asbestos fibers kill cells in the lining of the lungs, and the defensive leukocytes, *mechanically* - by puncturing them. That means that with mesothelioma the cancer is produced by a bodily reaction only, not a chemical process involving an interactive irritant such as a carcinogenic chemical or a virus.

The other interesting thing is that mesothelioma can result from a single exposure to inhaled asbestos over 20 years in the past.

I keep thinking they're missing something here... If the genetic changes to which you refer can in this case be produced by a solely mechanical agent, the process of cancer development in this case has to be entirely produced by the body's "normal" processes for dealing with foreign objects, when it becomes so "overworked" over a period of many years attempting to deal with foreign objects of which the leukocytes cannot dispose. It seems to me there's a key piece of evidence of the process for mutation there which may be being overlooked.

[Palladin]

Good luck with your treatments. My prayers are with you.

[Old Professer]

Yeah, and then we can all look forward to being starved to death after our stroke disables our brain.

[norraad]

It's very profitable for them to overlook the obvious.

No $ to be made telling folks such simple solutions to things.

Better to support big money mysterys.