HealthAndAdvices

Thousands of people die from malignant brain tumors every year, and the tumors are resistant to conventional therapies. This nano-bio technology may eventually provide an alternative form of therapy that targets only cancer cells and does not affect normal living tissue.

This new therapy depend on a two pronged approach. Titanium dioxide is a versatile photoreactive nanomaterial that can be bonded with biomolecules. Nanoparticles recognise and bind specifically to cancer cells when it is linked to an antibody. Focused visible light is shined onto the affected region, and the localized titanium dioxide reacts to the light by creating free oxygen radicals that interact with the mitochondria in the cancer cells. Mitochondria act as cellular energy plants, and when free radicals interfere with their biochemical pathways, mitochondria receive a signal to start cell death.

With this method it is possible to effectively attack the cancer which invade surrounding healthy cells using titanium dioxide unlike other cancer treatments like  radiotherapy and chemotherapy. But so far the tests have been done only on cells in a laboratory setting, animal testing is yet to be done and is planned for the next phase. Results show an almost 100 percent cancer cell toxicity rate after six hours of illumination, and 80 percent after 48 hours  and also other types of  cancers can be cured as well using different targeting molecules, but research is in the early stages.

Reffed form http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/nl901610f