Nano-technology uses virus' coats to fool cancer cells
Friday, February 17, 2012 - 05:01
in Health & Medicine
While there have been major advances in the detection, diagnosis, and treatment of tumors within the brain, brain cancer continues to have a very low survival rate in part to high levels of resistance to treatment. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Journal of Nanobiotechnology has used Sendai virus to transport Quantum Dots (Qdots) into brain cancer cells and to specifically bind Qdots to epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) which is often over-expressed and up-regulated in tumors. By molecular-labeling cancer cells this nanoparticle technology could be used to aid diagnosis.