Nanotubes superior at delivering chemotherapy

Tiny nanotubes were used to precisely deliver a concentrated payload of chemotherapy directly to the site of a tumor, according to a team of scientists at Stanford University. By sizing the nanotubes to slip through tumor tissue while being blocked by the walls of healthy blood vessels, the researchers say that the new approach avoids the harsh side effects usually associated with chemotherapy. And after 22 days of treatment the mice in the nanotube group had tumors half the size of the tumors in mice being treated with a standard chemotherapy. The breakthrough could also allow physicians to significantly reduce doses of chemotherapy.

"We are definitely hoping to be able to push this to practical applications into the clinic," chemistry professor Hongjie Dai told the San Jose Mercury News.

--read the report in the San Jose Mercury News

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