Tapias1
Proactively Attacking Cancer by Nanoparticles
EE453 Project Report submitted by
Diego Tapias () , Fall 2008
Tapias1
It has come to an understanding and the attention of the world, that with the dealing of cancer one of the possible approaches in handling or attacking the disease lies within nanotechnology. With medical research expanding to prolong human life, it is only natural for science to test the boundaries towards new technology to tackle cancer at every possible angle. The most prime positive angle being nanotechnology. The problem therefore lies in understanding the disease of cancer, where there is a glitch in the program of cell division, and the cell accumulates so much where a tumor is the end result. The problem escalates to where cancer is spread throughout the whole body. Therefore the problem is understood, yet finding a solution where it does not make the problem worse is the key. So far the best method is to eradicate cancer cells but in doing so this method is also killing perfectly healthy cells in the process. Finding a new solution to where it is possible to distinguish cancer cells from the rest of the body is vital. That is why the shift towards the development of nanosystems is a positive one because of its application of cancer imaging and treatment.
Nanotechnology is being looked to as a source to combat cancer because the similar size to a body cell. Similar size being that it is on such a small scale compare to a body cell. Nanotechnology being its’ name has the size of 7 to 30 nanometers while a human body cell size is about 7 to 30 micrometers. With this being said having the nanoparticle so much smaller than the body cell, it is easily able to infiltrate the cell wall. After infiltrating the cell system, the nanoparticle can proceed with business undetected by the system of the cell or cell parts such as the mitochondria.
Nanoparticles can also attach the cancer cell by attachment to the cell wall instead of infiltration. This can be done by biomaterial that can have the same result. Once the nanoparticle is able to infiltrate or attach to the interested cancer cell, the nanoparticle is able to release electromagnetic or radio waves to the cancer cell that then creates enough friction to heat the cell to dissolution.
When the choice of which nanoparticle approach to be used against the cancer cell the next question is what kind of nanoparticle to use.
A possibility from research is to use gold nanoparticles. For cancer imaging and treatment a nanoparticle should be able to scatter and interact well to outside stimuli. Gold nanoparticles exhibit such Characters under test that was concluded by scientist from the University of California in San Francisco and Georgia Institute of Technology. Next, the nanoparticles are equipped with system cells that can easily evaluate and be seen. With this being said, the whole process can occur more quickly. Another good point is that it has been seen with research that gold nanoparticle have a six hundred percent better affinity for cancerous cells compared to non cancerous cells. The factor that separates cancerous cells to regular body cells is that cancer cells have a specific protein calledEpidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EFGR), which distinguishes them because this certain protein is abundant around the surface of the cancer cell while on a normal body cell EFGR is not greatly shown. By combining the specific antibody for EFGR with gold nanoparticles, scientists are able to have this “anti-EFGR” attack the specific cancer cells because of the abundance of EFGR protein on cancer cells.
The best part of this experiment is the cost factor. This approach does not need an over price high powered microscopes or lasers to see any proof of the end product. What is needed is just a regular microscope with white light.One more key point is the result factor. A person is able to see proof of results immediately by, “If you take cells from a cancer stricken tissue and spray them with these gold nanoparticles that have this antibody you can see the results immediately. The scattering is so strong that you can detect a single particle,” (Dr. El-Sayed). The final point to be said about gold nanoparticles is that gold nanoparticles are not harmful to the body or to body cells.This is understood because there is another experiment that uses “artificial atoms known as Quantum Dots” which equips semiconductor crystals to pinpoint cancer cells, the downfall for this is that semiconductor material is not one hundred percent safe to the human body therefore the alternative to gold nanoparticles.
Discussed below is a literature survey that explores current research on the application of gold nanoparticles to cancer treatment and imaging:
Optoacoustic Imaging of gold nanoparticles targeted to breast cancer cells. Mohammad Eghtedari, Massoud Motamedi, Vsevolod L. Popov. Proceedings of SPIE.5320.2004.
According to Eghtedari and associates, Optoacoustic Tomography (OAT) is a type of widespread technology that is being used to have the ability to of deep imaging without any harmful effects on body tissues that is dependent on light absorption.What the OAT process is able to show the images of cancerous cells.What is involved is the mixture of a pulsed laser and a tissue that results in an increase of temperature. The product is made from non powerful acoustic waves by the creation of the absorbing components in a specific volume of tissue.The waves travel to the surface easily and with hardly any attenuation.The part that makes a good difference in the imaging of the cell is with the angiogenisis that increases. Eghtedari mentions to make the OAT process more useful is to have optoacoustic signals that come from the tumor. This then strengthens the debate for gold nanoparticles because the absorption coefficient makes it have a good point in absorption contrast. 40nm spherical gold nanoparticles was used in this study. In a breast cell the gold nanoparticles were attached to the specific antibody to attack the cancerous cells. Then the interested cancer cells were put about 5 to 6 centimeters below the breast which the breast was stimulated. Having the gold nanoparticles there made it possible for the OAT process to create an image of the phantom breast cells that had a volume of 0.15ml.
Estimation of tumor dose enhancement due to gold nanoparticles during typical radiation treatments: a preliminary Monte Carlo study. Sang Hyun Cho. Institute of Physics Publishing, Phys. Med. Biol. 50 (2005) N163-N173.
Cho’s paper is a summary of a research of dose enhancement by Monte Carlo calculations. Cho further proves the debate of gold nanoparticles is ideal because gold have a high atomic number and because nanoparticles can more infiltrate the tumor vasculature. The research gave possibility with thought of three levels of gold concentration within the tumor and predicted that no gold or a single gold concentration level outside the tumor. The outcome wanted is to find the dose enhancement by Monte Carlo calculations. What is to mention is this is just a hypothesis of preliminary study of dose enhancement. The point is that gold nanoparticles are the key for the dose enhancement experiment as a solution option compared to radiation. With that being said, anyone can see that gold nanoparticles can be used in so many different ways to efficiently treat and recognize cancer. Cho’s study is another example of this type of work in this field.
There is much proof seen from gold nanoparticles and much more is able to stem from this evidence of its usage for its treatment and imaging of cancer. Having one nontoxic approach to attack and image cancerous cells is a leading method of nanotechnology. With this method, the location of cancerous cells can be quickly detected cheaply and efficiently and having able to find the location of cancer cells can determine the best way to find the solution.The best part is that normal body cells will not be involved in the process anymore and therefore will not be annihilated in the process for searching for cancerous cells.
Works Cited:
Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 12 December 2007. Cancer Cells. Hammarstrom, Eric. <
Eghtedari, Mohammad. Massoud, Motamedi, Vsevolod L. Popov. Optoacoustic Imaging of gold nanoparticles targeted to breast cancer cells.Proceedings of SPIE.5320.2004.
Georgia Tech. 12 December 2007. Gold Nanoparticles May Simplify Cancer Detection. Terraso, David. <
Ratliff, Lillian. Gold Nanoparticles. 29 November 2006.
Cho, Sang Hyun. Estimation of tumor dose enhancement due to gold nanoparticles during typical radiation treatments: a preliminary Monte Carlo study. Phys. Med. Biol. 50 (2005) N163-N173.