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Monday, 18th January 2010 (5279 views)

New research has shown gold nanoparticles are delivering drugs to the right areas of cells in order to maximise their effectiveness in fighting cancer.

Dr Joseph Irudayaraj and graduate student Jiji Chen of Purdue University in Indiana created nanoprobes made from gold and magnetic particles, which they tracked through live human tissue using an MRI scanner to pick up the magnetic elements and a microscopy technique known as fluorescence correlation spectroscopy to follow the gold, Nanotechnology Now reports.

They found the majority of the nanorods, which were coated with the anti-breast cancer drug Herceptin, concentrated in the endosomes of cells. These intracellular compartments sort drugs and other substances, delivering them to the appropriate locations.

Lysosomes, which act as a cell's "garbage collection units" and can hinder the effectiveness of drug treatments, received lower concentrations of the nanorods, the site noted.

Dr Irudayaraj said: "Our methods will allow us to calculate the quantities of a drug needed to treat a cancer cell because now we know how these nanoparticles are being distributed to different parts of the cell."

The researchers had previously determined that gold nanoprobes could be used to deliver drugs to cancerous cells without damaging healthy tissue surround a tumour.

 

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