So, science found a new way to be both terrifying and absolutely feckin' awesome at the same time.
...Unless, of course, my unscientific mind has been carried away by sensationalist media reporting. Wouldn't be the first time.
What do you think, SV?
Another article from the Express Star on the topic:Heat-triggered 'grenades' hit cancer
By James Gallagher Health editor, BBC News website
- 31 October 2015
- From the section Health
Image copyright Kostas Kostarelos
The scientists use liposomes to carry toxic drugs into tumours
Scientists have designed microscopic "grenades" that can explode their cancer-killing payload in tumours.
The team will present its findings at the National Cancer Research Institute conference next week.
They plan to use liposomes - tiny bubbles of fat which carry materials round the body - to release toxic drugs when their temperature is raised.
The "grenades" are intended to avoid side-effects by ensuring the drugs target only the tumour.
Experts said such technology, which has been effective in animal experiments, was the "holy grail of nanomedicine".
Cancer scientists are trying to harness the transporting abilities of these fatty spheres by getting them to carry toxic drugs to tumours.
"The difficulty is, how do you release them when they reach their target?" Prof Kostas Kostarelos, from the University of Manchester, told the BBC News website.
The Nanomedicine Lab in Manchester has designed liposomes that are water-tight at normal body temperature. But when the temperature increases to 42C they become leaky.
"The challenge for us is to try to develop liposomes in such a way that they will be very stable at 37C and not leak any cancer drug molecules and then abruptly release them at 42C," Prof Kostarelos added.
Warming
He suggests heat pads could be used to warm tumours on the body surface such as skin, head or neck cancers.
Image copyright Thinkstock
Probes can heat tumours inside the body, and there is also discussion about using ultra sound to warm tumours.
In early tests on mice with melanoma there was "greater uptake" of drugs in tumours using the thermal grenades. And that resulted in a "moderate improvement" in survival rates.
Prof Kostarelos said similar techniques were being trialled in patients and this "is not a fantasy."
Prof Charles Swanton, the chairman of the conference, said targeted liposomes were a "holy grail of nanomedicine".
He added: "These studies demonstrate for the first time how they can be built to include a temperature control, which could open up a range of new treatment avenues.
"This is still early work but these liposomes could be an effective way of targeting treatment towards cancer cells while leaving healthy cells unharmed."
So, "Nanomachines, SON!" is actually not that far off from the truth, as researchers from the University of Manchester found out. Drugs are carried around by liposomes, with the delivery system being triggered by heat -- scientists intend to heat up cancer cells in the patient's body to release drugs to the cancer cells in a more targeted manner, making sure healthy tissue is not targeted alongside tumors. They've only tested it on mice so far, but the implications are astounding.PUBLISHED: October 31, 2015 7:10 am
Heat-activated 'grenades' developed to fight cancer
Heat-activated "grenades" filled with cancer-fighting drugs have been developed by scientists, in the latest step to treat the disease.
The discovery could help reduce the damage to healthy cells which can be caused by other forms of treatment, the scientists said
The creation of a heat-activated trigger to release the drugs has been hailed as a way to make sure cancerous, rather than healthy tissue is targeted.
The findings of two studies by a team based at the University of Manchester are due to be presented at the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) cancer conference in Liverpool next week.
The method of treatment would see small bubble-like structures called liposomes carry drugs around the body to a tumour where they explode at a heat level above body temperature.
By heating the tumour scientists were able to control when the liposomes released their drugs.
It is hoped the development, which has so far been tested using warm water baths and heating pads on mice, could pave the way for more treatment options.
Study author and professor of nanomedicine at the University of Manchester Kostas Kostarelos said the discovery could help reduce the damage to healthy cells which can be caused by other forms of treatment.
He said: "Temperature-sensitive liposomes have the potential to travel safely around the body while carrying your cancer drug of choice.
"Once they reach a 'hotspot' of warmed-up cancer cells, the pin is effectively pulled and the drugs are released. This allows us to more effectively transport drugs to tumours, and should reduce collateral damage to healthy cells.
"The thermal trigger is set to 42 degrees Celsius (107.6F), which is just a few degrees warmer than normal body temperature.
"Although this work has only been done in the lab so far, there are a number of ways we could potentially heat cancer cells in patients - depending on the tumour type - some of which are already in clinical use."
Professor Charles Swanton, chair of this year's NCRI conference, said the development builds on what is the "holy grail" of nanomedicine.
He said: "Finding ways to accurately direct the liposomes towards tumours has been a major challenge in targeted drug delivery.
"These studies demonstrate for the first time how they can be built to include a temperature control, which could open up a range of new treatment avenues.
"This is still early work but these liposomes could be an effective way of targeting treatment towards cancer cells while leaving healthy cells unharmed."
...Unless, of course, my unscientific mind has been carried away by sensationalist media reporting. Wouldn't be the first time.
What do you think, SV?
