Scientists from the University of Surrey have
developed 'intelligent' nanoparticles
which heat up to a temperature high enough to kill cancerous cells - but which then self-regulate
and lose heat before they get hot enough to harm healthy tissue.
The self-stopping nanoparticles could soon be used
as part of hyperthermic-thermotherapy to
treat patients with cancer, according to an exciting new study reported in Nanoscale.
Thermotherapy has long been used as a treatment method for cancer, but it is
difficult to treat patients without damaging healthy cells. However, tumor
cells can be weakened or killed without affecting normal tissue if temperatures
can be controlled accurately within a range of 42°C to 45 °C.
This could potentially be a game changer in the way
we treat people who have cancer . If we can keep cancer treatment sat at a
temperature level high enough to kill the cancer, while low enough to stop
harming healthy tissue, it will prevent some of the serious side effects of vital
treatment.
It's a very exciting development which, once again,
shows that the University of Surrey research is at the forefront of
nanotechnologies - whether in the field of energy materials or, in this case,
healthcare. Dr. Wei Zhang, Associate Professor from Dalian University of
Technology said Magnetic induced hyperthermia is a traditional route of
treating malignant tumors. However, the
difficulties in temperature control has significantly restricted its usage If
we can modulate the magnetic properties
of the nanoparticles, the therapeutic temperature can be self-regulated, eliminating the use of clumsy
temperature monitoring and controlling systems.
By making magnetic materials with the Curie
temperature falling in the range of hyperthermia temperatures, the
self-regulation of therapeutics can be achieved. For the most magnetic
materials, however, the Curie
temperature is much higher than the human body can endure. By adjusting the components as we have, we have
synthesized the nanoparticles with the Curie temperature as low as 34 °C. This
is a major nanomaterials breakthrough.
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