id448694570 Nanotechnology in the fight against cancer

Standard cancer treatments are wide-ranging, and run the risk of damaging nearby healthy tissues. Whether a doctor chooses surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation, it's difficult to target tumors exclusively. As a result, some patients have extended recovery times, and unwanted side effects (via the National Cancer Institute).

Nanotech therapies offer the ability to enter the body, and deliver drugs or other treatments directly to the targeted cancer cells without damaging healthy tissues. As the National Cancer Institute explains, despite nanoparticles being smaller than individual cells, they are still large enough to enclose molecular compounds. That makes them effective drug-carrying vessels. Moreover, they can be tuned to seek out characteristics specific to cancerous tissues. In essence, they don't open fire until they find the right target.

In the fight against cancer, nanotechnology isn't stopping at just delivering new treatment methods; it's also helping to make existing treatments more effective. Some cancers have native resistance to treatments like chemotherapy and immunotherapy. However, researchers at Tel Aviv University have developed nanoparticles that use RNA to effectively disable a tumor's built-in armor, leaving them vulnerable to attack from conventional treatments (via EurekAlert!). It carries a one-two punch which turns off the cancer's HO1 enzyme to weaken the tumor's defenses while also ramping up the patient's immune response.

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