Use nanoparticles to find cancer cells

US scientists have developed a technique that uses tiny gold particles attached to antibodies to look for cancer cells.

The father and son study together a technical problem using gold nanoparticles attached to antibodies to look for cancer cells.

The son is a medical doctor Ivan-EI-Saied, professor of medical school San Francisco, Califolia, specializing in ENT. His father, a chemistry professor, Mostafa-EI-Sayed, a professor of engineering at the University of Georgia, is also the director of the Laer Dynamics Laboratory.

Researchers use nanoparticles of gold as the gold absorbs light and is easily recognizable by microscopy.

These particles are attached to the antibodies of EFGR, an epidermal growth factor receptor. The results showed that gold nanoparticles coated with antibodies against EFGR clung to cancer cells, more than 600 times more likely to stick to non-cancerous healthy cells.

Nano particles

Thanks to the technique can search, differentiate cancer cells with healthy cells. In other words, using antibiotic-coated gold nanoparticles can help find cancer cells easily.

The method is so sensitive that it can see a single, tiny gold particle, shining through the microscope. Gold colloid is not toxic to the cells of the patient.

Other research works also apply nanoparticles in disease diagnosis as well as treatment. In a recent study, Dr. Youging Shen and colleagues at the University of Wyoming used nanoparticles to stick to cancer treatment drugs and to infiltrate cancer cells at such rapid rates that the body's immune system can not cope timely.

At the same time, cancer cells do not respond to cancer drugs in time. When they enter the cancer cells, the particles break down, releasing the drug quickly in cancer cells and destroying cancer cells.

The focus of this study is on ovarian cancer, a very difficult cancer, and many other cancers.