Australian scientists announce cancer drug breakthrough

[Al-khiyal]

SYDNEY, May 11, 2007 -- Australian scientists said Friday they had developed a cancer treatment that could deliver lethal doses of drugs to tumors without the usual harmful side-effects such as nausea and hair loss.

Research scientist Jennifer MacDiarmid said the cutting-edge technique uses nanotechnology to create particles that directly attack cancer cells with a "lethal payload" of drugs, without flooding the body with toxic chemicals.

Treatments such as chemotherapy typically involve subjecting the patient's entire body to the powerful drugs in order to kill the cancer, causing debilitating side-effects that the new, targeted technique would eliminate.

"Your hair wouldn't fall out, you wouldn't throw up ... some chemotherapy is life-threatening in itself," MacDiarmid said.

MacDiarmid said scientists at Sydney-based biotechnology company EnGeneIC, where she is a managing director, used a bacteria cell stripped of reproductive powers to develop a particle capable of carrying any chemotherapy drug.

The nano-cell, which is about one-fifth the size of a normal cell, is then tagged with antibodies that are attracted to cancerous tumors. Once the cell hits the cancer, the drug is released directly into the malignant growth.

"There is no other system where you can get so much drug concentrated into a little parcel," MacDiarmid said.

The results of animal trials published this week in the US-based journal Cancer Cell show that the technique had reduced tumors in animals without toxic side-effects and by using only a very small amount of drugs.

MacDiarmid said the treatment could potentially be used on any solid tumors including those in the breasts, ovaries, colon, and lungs.

In future, the treatment could allow for the creation of customized drug "cocktails" to be used on patients to counter drug resistance and could lower costs as a smaller amount of drugs would be needed, she said.

The team hopes to start human trials by the end of this year.

Australian scientists announce cancer drug breakthrough

[Al-khiyal]

Cancer Cell

[amalgamate]

that is genius. of course! the bacterial cell- we use microorganisms every day to help us in so many ways- food processing, preservation, weather control... why not use them against cancer!

[Cheba_Mami]

The nano-cell, which is about one-fifth the size of a normal cell, is then tagged with antibodies that are attracted to cancerous tumors. Once the cell hits the cancer, the drug is released directly into the malignant growth.

...hmmm good start, the problem is : how to be sure that ALL cancercells are hit by these antibodies-tagged cells? hard case to solve.

[amalgamate]

that's the role of the antibodies- they are specific to cancer antigens.
but wait- i don't believe cancer cells even have antigens on their surface membrane... that's what makes them so hard to grasp- they're almost invisible to the body. without cell surface proteins, other cells cannot recognize them.

"attracted to cancerous tumors" .. hmmm, that means that the bacteria identify the cancer cell by other attributes- probably the chemicals they emit to encourage the growth of veins around them to nourish them.

??

the study of a cancer cell is so interesting- it's bizarre!

[Bent_Bladi]

i can't wait to get my degree so i can blab on like you two...