More on nanoparticles

See that photo? It may represent the future of cancer treatment. What you see are nanoparticles both within and entering a cancerous tumour cell carrying a dangerous payload. The particles deliver RNA interfering material that essentially attacks genetic material in malignant cells and kills them. This treatment is delivered through the bloodstream and the nanoparticles seek out the cancerous cells. According to to an article from Gizmodo:

"The 70-nanometer attack bots—made with two polymers and a protein that attaches to the cancerous cell's surface—carry a piece of RNA called small-interfering RNA (siRNA), which deactivates the production of a protein, starving the malign cell to death. Once it has delivered its lethal blow, the nanoparticle breaks down into tiny pieces that get eliminated by the body in the urine. The most amazing thing is that you can send as many of these soldiers as you want, and they will keep attaching to the bad guys, killing them left, right, and center, and stopping tumors. According to Davis, "the more [they] put in, the more ends up where they are supposed to be, in tumour cells." While they will have to finish the trials to make sure that there are no side-effects whatsoever, the team is very happy with the successful results and it's excited about what's coming."

This therapy has the potential to rid the body of cancer without the devastating side effects of chemo and other treatments. You can read more about the subject here.


Ah yes, the pop culture moment. I've been rediscovering Joy Division, and came across a video of a band called Steel Harmony doing a cover of their song, Transmission. The cool part? The cover band is a Caribbean steel drum band. Enjoy.

Shakin' and bakin' cancer cells to death

Unlike normal cells, cancer cells don't have an off switch and ignore the brain's efforts to trigger apoptosis, or cell death. Over the past few months, I've seen/read two reports of people using metals that bond to the cancer cells. Radio waves or a magnetic fields are then used to kill the cancer cells leaving the healthy cells unaffected. Could this be the future of cancer therapy? Here's a bit on both developments.

Last October, 60 Minutes ran a story about a man named John Kanzius. Suffering from leukemia, Kanzius built a radio wave machine he hoped would destroy cancer cells without chemotherapy. The main idea is to inject a cancer patient with gold nanoparticles, expose the patient to radio waves and cook the cancer cells to death. Unfortunately, Kazius lost his battle with leukemia, but created much excitement among cancer researchers. Here are three links to Kanzius' machine from various news programs:

• Kanzius Story Part 1
• Kanzius Story Part 2
• Kanzius Story Part 3 

Science Daily recently ran a story about using gold and metal microdiscs connected to brain cancer-seeking antibodies. These nanoparticles bond to cancer cells, and when exposed to a magnetic field they cause the cells to oscillate. This shaking triggers apoptosis and the cancer cells die. Although human trials are still years away, this is a promising therapy. To read the article, click here.

Both of these potential treatments are a huge improvement from chemo and other existing therapies. As my family doctor would put it, it's using a BB gun to kill a mouse, instead of using an atom bomb. The possible lack of side effects is greatly encouraging.

I leave you with the following video, from Iceland's Sigur Ros. It's a few years old (and you can tell by the fact it's the Craig Kilborn show), but it's amazing. Enjoy.