Gold Nanoparticles Researching For Cancer Cure
Researchers from the University of Southampton have made some new research and found new nanomaterials, which are capacity of disrupting the blood supply to cancerous cells.
Dr Antonios Kanaras and his team presented a small dose of gold nanoparticles that could inhibit or activate genes whitch are involved in angiogenesis – a complex process responsible for the supply of oxygen and nutrients to most types of cancer.
“The peptide-functionalised gold nanoparticles that we synthesised are very effective in the deliberate activation or inhibition of angiogenic genes,” said Dr Kanaras.
The team went a step further to control the degree of damage to the endothelial cells using laser illumination. Endothelial cells construct the interior of blood vessels and play a pivotal role in angiogenesis.
The researchers also found that the gold particles could be used as effective tools in cellular nanosurgery.
Kanaras added: “We have found that gold nanoparticles can have a dual role in cellular manipulation. Applying laser irradiation, we can use the nanoparticles either to destroy endothelial cells, as a measure to cut the blood supply to tumours, or to deliberately open up the cellular membrane in order to deliver a drug efficiently.”
The researchers have published two related papers (NanoLett. 2011, 11 (3), 1358? Small 2011, 7, No. 3, 388?), with another one submitted for publication and four more planned throughout this year.
Gold Nanoparticles Researching For Cancer Cure
Colloidal gold is a suspension (or colloid) of sub-micrometre-sized particles of gold in a fluid — usually water. The liquid is usually either an intense red colour (for particles less than 100 nm), or a dirty yellowish colour (for larger particles). Due to the unique optical, electronic, and molecular-recognition properties of gold nanoparticles, they are the subject of substantial research, with applications in a wide variety of areas, including electron microscopy, electronics, nanotechnology, and materials science.
Properties and applications of colloidal gold nanoparticles depends upon shape. For example, rodlike particles have both transverse and longitudinal absorption peak, and anisotropy of the shape affects their self-assembly.
Taking gold nanoparticles to the cancer cell and hitting them with a laser has been shown to be a promising tool in fighting cancer, but what about cancers that occur in places where a laser light can’t reach? Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have shown that by directing gold nanoparticles into the nuclei of cancer cells, they can not only prevent them from multiplying, but can kill them where they lurk.
Source-ANI, Wikipedia