TINY PARTICLES DELIVER CURES

Nanoparticles are so small that you can run out of zeroes describing them. In fact, “nano” is usually defined as about 0.000004 inches in size. But, thanks to federally funded university science, nanoparticles can make a big difference in improving health care.

For instance, at the University of North Carolina (UNC) in Chapel Hill, a team of researchers has created nanoparticles about the size of some viruses out of a polymer (a synthesized compound) and a cancer drug. Under the direction of Chemistry and Engineering Professor Joseph DeSimone, the researchers then attached the nanoparticle to antibodies that link to proteins that are prevalent in cancer cells. These microscopic particles can target the delivery of the cancer drug to the cells that are stricken by cancer.

In another advance, imaging agents can be attached to the outside of the nanoparticle. This would allow doctors to monitor where the drug is going. Whatever else is attached to the nanoparticle, the polymers will be bio-absorbable and will eventually break down and leave the body.

Meanwhile, at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, researchers have designed nanoparticles that can reveal tiny cancerous tumors that are invisible by ordinary means of detection. As soon as thirty minutes after mice were injected with nanoparticles containing imaging materials, small tumors are “lit up” and easily located. The same nanoparticles can deliver cancer-fighting drugs to the tumors.

The U.S. National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute is funding the nanoparticle research at the University of North Carolina and at Washington University in St. Louis. By learning more about how health care can make use of these tiny particles, nanomedicine is using the physical sciences to improve therapy, diagnosis and early detection of cancer and other diseases.

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