'Nanobubbles' Plus Chemotherapy Equals Single-Cell Cancer Targeting

Researchers at Rice University, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and Baylor College of Medicine have been developing a new chemotherapy treatment that has shown to be thirty times more deadly to cancer cells than the traditional drug treatment while requiring less than one tenth of the clinical dosage of chemotherapy drugs. The new treatment uses light-harvesting nanoparticles to convert laser energy into plasmonic nanobubbles. This form of treatment holds great promise for selectively targeting cancer cells that are mixed with healthy cells in the same culture.

The treatment works at the single cell level and delivers the drugs directly inside the cancer cells while avoiding healthy cells. This increases drug efficacy and lowers the required dosage at the same time. The nanotubules are not nanoparticles, but rather “short-lived events.” They are tiny pockets of air and water vapor that are created when laser light strikes a cluster of nanoparticles and is converted instantly into heat. The bubbles form just below the surface of cancer cells and then as the bubbles burst, they open tiny holes in the cancer cells and allow the drugs to enter.

This method has not been tested in animals yet and will require more research before it might be ready for human testing. This treatment could be a huge breakthrough in cancer treatment research because using a technique that gets drugs through a cancer cell's protective outer wall would dramatically improve the drug's ability to kill the cancer cell.

Sources:

http://news.rice.edu/2012/04/09/nanobubbles-plus-chemotherapy-equals-single-cell-cancer-targeting/

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120409133753.htm