Scientists say that nanotubes can be used in different ways to combat cancer: they can be used in nanoprobes for high-resolution imaging, they can be carriers of drug molecules, they can even destroy cancer cells themselves.

Recently, an article appeared in the journal Advanced Functional Materials, whose authors describe the first successful application of gold nanotubes for the treatment of human cancer in mice.

The lead author of the study, Dr. Sunjie Ye, a researcher at the School of Physics and Astronomy and the Institute of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences at the University of Lida (Great Britain), writes: "The high incidence of tumor recurrence after surgical removal remains a major obstacle in the fight against cancer.

Radiation and chemotherapy after surgery in many cases can prevent this, but both treatments have serious side effects ".

Gold nanotubes - nanoparticles made of gold, resembling tubules for a cocktail - have a huge potential in the treatment and diagnosis of cancer. Perhaps, not a single nanostructure combines as many useful properties for oncologists.

Researchers from Leeds say that the new technology to control the length of nanotubes has become a breakthrough in this field. When scientists learned how to obtain nanotubes of strictly defined length, incredible possibilities of their use.

Co-author of the latest study, Professor Steve Evans of the School of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Lida says: "Human tissues are permeable to light rays of a certain length - approximately in the red / infrared range. That's why, when you touch the light source, your finger turns red. This principle was incorporated into our technology ".

"When the gold nanotubes move inside the human body, the rays with a properly matched wavelength are absorbed by the particles. This light energy is transformed into thermal energy. Using a pulsating laser, we can quickly raise the temperature of nanotubes in the right place, triggering thermal destruction of the tumor, "explains Professor.

In in vitro studies, scientists changed the laser power and controlled the system's operating mode in this way - at a lower power they could simply visualize the tumors, and at high power they would destroy them.

To see the effect of gold nanoparticles within a living organism, researchers used a new method of diagnostic imaging called multispectral optoacoustic tomography (MSOT). The experiments were performed on mice with human cancer cells, which were injected with gold nanotubes intravenously. This is the first case of using such particles in a living body. It was found that nanotubes are excreted from the body and are not toxic, which is extremely important for the clinical application of technology.

The lead author of the study, Dr. James McLaughlan, a member of the School of Electronics and Electrical Engineering of the University of Lida, comments:

"This is the first ever demonstration of the production and use of gold nanotubes for the diagnosis and therapy of cancer using the" optical window "of living tissues. Nanotubes can be targeted to tumor tissues. They also have voids that can be filled with a drug substance. This combination allows for the purposeful introduction of a therapeutic agent for the most effective treatment of cancer with minimal toxicity for patients ".

Now scientists are moving to the phase of early clinical trials of technology, hoping in the coming years to introduce it into practice.

medbe. en.

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