The Wide Angle: 10 Ways Nanotechnology Battles CancerBy Jonathan Strickland, HowStuffWorks.com
An Ounce of Prevention Leading a healthy lifestyle can reduce some types of cancer, but not all. If scientists can design, build and introduce nanoparticles that seek out cancer before it has a chance to grow, society may see cancer eliminated entirely.
1. PREVENT CANCER ONE MOLECULE AT A TIME Perhaps the most exciting application of nanotechnology in oncology is the prevention of cancer itself. If we can design, build and introduce nanoparticles that seek out biomarkers for cancer before carcinogenesis can occur, we have the potential to eliminate that type of cancer entirely. While we can reduce our risk to some kinds of cancer by leading healthy lifestyles and avoiding dangerous situations, other types of cancer are harder to avoid. Nanoparticles might be the answer to staving off these types of cancer. In a paper titled "Disease Markers," Steven J. Zullo, Sudhir Srivastava, J. Patrick Looney and Peter E. Barker presented their multidisciplinary research about cancer biomarkers. They observed that "to shift from therapeutic to a preventive mode, a new nano-scale tool kit is needed to: detect biomarkers, signatures, and targets; determine their best uses; apply them in the early stages of cancer development; and measure, analyze, and manipulate molecular processes at scale and in context." Many cancer nanotechnology centers are now focusing on building such a tool kit. There may come a time when we'll receive regular injections of nanoparticles to seek out and destroy cancer cells before they can metastasize as part of a regular physical. Before that can happen, the multidisciplinary groups working on treating cancer with nanotechnology will have to perfect nanoparticle design so that they only target cancer cells. Nanotechnology may help make cancer and other diseases and conditions a thing of the past, but it's going to take many more years of research, experiments and trials before we get there. Still, it may turn out that the biggest development in medicine turns out to be the smallest particles you can imagine. More on How Tech Works from |
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