Scientists develop microcapsule and laser technique to fight cancer
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute have come up with a new technique to treat cancer which they claim can destroy cancerous cells, leaving surrounding healthy cells intact. The technique involves inserting cancer-destroying substances in a microcapsule inside a malignant tumour and releasing the contents using a laser impulse. There are several ways to treat cancer, chemotherapy being the most popular and systematic technique. Chemotherapy involves introducing drugs, which are often toxic, into the body. The drugs not only target the area where the cancer has been first identified but can also reach cancer cells that may have spread to other parts of the body. However, chemotherapy is not limited to attacking cancerous cells. It also damages some of the healthy cells around the tumour which can result in unpleasant or even painful side effects. The technique devised by the researchers at the Max Planck Institute aims to avoid the destruction of healthy tissues by releasing the cancer-killing drugs within the tumour itself. To carry these substances to its destination, the researchers developed a tiny microcapsule measuring only a few thousandths of a millimetre in diameter. The walls of the capsules are made of alternating layers of positively and negatively charged polymers, allowing them to pass easily across a cell's outer membrane. Attached to the walls are nanoparticles made out of gold or silver atoms. When absorbed by the tumour cells, the microcapsule is zapped by an infrared laser. This heats up the gold or silver particles, causing the capsule to split-open, releasing its contents to the malignant cells. For the moment, the technique has been tested only on isolated tumour cells. According to Helmuth Mohald, one of the researchers involved in developing the technique, there is no way as yet to 'steer' the microcapsule to the targeted cancer cells. 'We have to add some kind of feature to the capsules so that they only recognise the target cells,' he said. Only these cells would then allow microcapsules through their membrane, to unleash its lethal payload. The research was published in the journal Angewandte Chemie.
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