Hot nanoprobes used to slow tumor growth in animals

A research team at UC Davis has used hot nanoprobes to slow the development of aggressive breast cancer in mice and now plans to begin human studies of the new approach. Working with Triton BioSystems, the researchers combined magnetized iron-oxide nanospheres with radiolabeled monoclonal antibodies and then hid them inside polymers and sugars to protect them from the animals' immune system. Injected into the bloodstream, these microscopic nanoprobes attached to receptors on the surface of cancer cells. Several days after the injection, an alternating magnetic field was used to heat the probes in the area of a tumor. And researchers tracked a reduction in the growth rate of tumors. The trick in getting the therapy to work, researchers say, is generating heat in the tumor area alone and determining how successful the therapy was.

- read the report on the cancer research from Huliq

ALSO: A separate team of researchers is studying the use of nanocrystals for treating tumors. Report

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