BBC News reports (HT: StonesCryOut) that a new technique using microscopic carbon tubules has shown itself to be effective against cancer cells. The encouraging part of this research is that the carbon tubules are able to be injected into cancer cells, avoiding normal cells.
When the rods are exposed to near-infra red light from a laser they heat up, killing the cell, while cells without rods are left unscathed.
Here are details of the procedure:
The carbon nanotubules used by the Stanford team are only half the width of a DNA molecule, and thousands can easily fit inside a typical cell.
Under normal circumstances near-infra red light passes through the body harmlessly.
But the Stanford team found that if they placed a solution of carbon nanotubules under a near-infra red laser beam, the solution heated up to about 70C in two minutes.
They then placed the tubules inside cells, and found they were quickly destroyed by the heat generated by the laser beam.
Dr Dai said: "It's actually quite simple and amazing. We're using an intrinsic property of nanotubes to develop a weapon that kills cancer."
The next step was to find a way to introduce the nantubules into cancer cells, but not healthy cells.
The researchers did this by taking advantage of the fact that, unlike normal cells, the surface of cancer cells is covered with receptors for a vitamin known as folate.
They coated the nanotubules with folate molecules, making it easy for them to pass into cancer cells, but unable to bind with their healthy cousins.
Exposure to the laser duly killed off the diseased cells, but left the healthy ones untouched.
Great news full of promise for the future.
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