Nanotechnology Now - Press Release: Using Radio Waves to Bake Tumors

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Abstract:
Nanothermal therapy - the use of nanoparticles to cook a tumor to death - is one of the many promising uses of nanotechnology to both improve the effectiveness of cancer therapy and reduce its side effects. Now, a team of investigators from the Texas Center for Cancer Nanomedicine has shown that liver cancer cells will take up targeted gold nanoparticles, absorb radio waves, and generate heat that damages the cells. In addition, the researchers have discovered how to increase the thermal toxicity of these nanoparticles.

Using Radio Waves to Bake Tumors

Bethesda, MD | Posted on April 5th, 2012

This research was led by Steven A. Curley, of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, and Lon Wilson, of Rice University. The investigators published their results in the journal Nanomedicine.

Biocompatible gold nanoparticles are ideal vehicles for delivering heat to tumors because they are non-toxic, stable, and can be coated with a variety of molecules to target them to tumors. Unlike conventional anticancer agents, gold nanoparticles are harmless unless first activated by an energy source, such as a near-infrared light delivered by a laser. In fact, laser-activated gold nanoparticles are being tested in human clinical trials for the treatment of head and neck cancer. Radio waves, however, have a potential advantage over laser energy because radio waves do not interact with biological tissues and thus can penetrate more deeply within the body than can laser light.

One of the major obstacles to using radiofrequency-activated gold nanoparticles to treat cancer is their tendency to clump together, which reduces their ability to absorb energy and convert it to heat. In the current study, the Texas researchers aimed to develop a precise understanding of why clumping occurs and develop the means to keep it from happening. Their experiments showed that the low pH within endosomes - the tiny vesicles that bring antibody-targeted nanoparticles into cells - is the primary cause of aggregation.

In an attempt to neutralize the acidic pH within endosomes, the investigators treated the cells with one of two different drugs - concanamycin A, an antibiotic not designed for use in humans, and chloroquine, an approved antimalarial agent - that are known to prevent endosome acidification. When the treated cells were exposed to antibody-targeted gold nanoparticles and then radiofrequency activation, heat-triggered cell death increased markedly compared to that seen with cells that were not pre-treated with the acid blockers, by preserving the protein coating on the gold nanoparticle surface. Based on these results, the investigators are now developing antibody-targeted nanoparticles with coatings that will prevent aggregation in the acidic environment of the endosome.

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About The National Cancer Institute (NCI)
To help meet the goal of reducing the burden of cancer, the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, is engaged in efforts to harness the power of nanotechnology to radically change the way we diagnose, treat and prevent cancer.

The NCI Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer is a comprehensive, systematized initiative encompassing the public and private sectors, designed to accelerate the application of the best capabilities of nanotechnology to cancer.

Currently, scientists are limited in their ability to turn promising molecular discoveries into benefits for cancer patients. Nanotechnology can provide the technical power and tools that will enable those developing new diagnostics, therapeutics, and preventives to keep pace with today’s explosion in knowledge.

For more information, please click here

Contacts:
National Cancer Institute
Office of Technology & Industrial Relations
ATTN: NCI Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer
Building 31, Room 10A49
31 Center Drive , MSC 2580
Bethesda , MD 20892-2580

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