Heat-activated grenades to treat cancer
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Cancer drug-packed ‘grenades’ with heat sensitive triggers are under-development by a group of international researchers at the University of Manchester. These ‘grenades’ will be directly targeting at tumours, thus presenting a new way to treat cancer.
These small bubble-like structures under-developments are liposomes -- built out of cell membrane that are used as packages to deliver molecules into cells -- to carry drugs into cancer cells.
However, the challenge is to direct the liposomes and their payload directly to tumours while sparing healthy tissue.
The two new studies show the team has taken a step closer to solving this problem by fitting liposomes with a heat-activated trigger.
By slightly heating tumours in the lab and in mouse models, the researchers have been able to control when the pin is pulled so that the cancer-killing 'grenades' release the drug and target the cancer.
These small bubble-like structures under-developments are liposomes -- built out of cell membrane that are used as packages to deliver molecules into cells -- to carry drugs into cancer cells.
However, the challenge is to direct the liposomes and their payload directly to tumours while sparing healthy tissue.
The two new studies show the team has taken a step closer to solving this problem by fitting liposomes with a heat-activated trigger.
By slightly heating tumours in the lab and in mouse models, the researchers have been able to control when the pin is pulled so that the cancer-killing 'grenades' release the drug and target the cancer.
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