Quantum dots and quantum rods help treat cancer

Quantum dots and luminescent quantum rods are becoming important tools in identifying molecules and cells in living matter systems. In two recent scientific reports, cancer researchers have demonstrated the possibilities of applying these nanoscale objects to the treatment of diseases (According to new results published in Cancer Research 67 (2007). ) 1138 ).

Hideo Higuchi and colleagues at Tohoku University in Japan used quantum dots attached to antibody factors and a highly sensitive photosensitive microscope. A video camera to record videos of these nanoparticles as they move through the bloodstream to tumors of experimental mice.

In a paper published in Cancer Research , the researchers identified six stages in the process where quantum dots are attached to HER2 antibodies that migrate from the injection site to the surrounding nucleus. HER2 antibodies bind to a protein present in the surface of some breast cells and other tumors (see diagram of the experimental diagram).

(Photo: Vatlyvietnam)

Using such quantum dots, the researchers obtained quantitative measurements of these six phases. They emphasized that understanding these stages will give us the ability to use nanoparticles to transport appropriate injections to the exact location of cancer tumors.

Paras Prasad (Photo: buffalo)

In another study, Paras Prasad and colleagues at New York State University have shown that they can create quantum rods that are soluble in water and that they can be used as probes to Locate cancer cells. Quantum rods can also be made to produce luminescent colors, like spherical quantum dots. But because of their larger size than quantum dots, they are more easily stimulated by incident light. This study was published in Nano Letters. Prasad's group has also developed for the first time a new method for making quantum rods suitable for probe functions. In the experimental report, the researchers attached a protein called transferrin (this protein involved in many types of cancer cells) onto quantum rods.

Experiments have shown that these quantum rods are only acquired by diseased cells, and they accumulate in these cells. Quantum rods in the cell will be displayed using light near low-intensity infrared. And so, where there is the glow of quantum rods, there will be the location of cancer cells.

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