- FDA Rules for Cigarettes Are a Victory for Public Health, for Science (and for the Earth’s Climate?)
- Legislation Introduced to Codify Stem Cell Rules
- Commissioner Enhances FDA’s Commitment to Personalized Medicine
- Perfecting Policy on Stem Cells
- NIH and FDA Aim to Retool Regulatory Science
- DOE Leads Federal Funding for a Regional Innovation Cluster
- Certainty on the Science of Climate Change
- They’re Not Perfect Cells, But They’re Model Cells
- Genomic Medicine on the March
- President’s Budget Aims to Recharge Regional Innovation
- Event: The Science of Climate Change
- Progress in Bioethics
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
Nanotube Cancer Treatment Shows Promise
John Kanzius was a 58-year-old father of two when he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia that, according to doctors, only left him with nine months to live. Instead of resigning to his fate, Kanzius, a retired electrical engineer and TV and radio station owner, built and continues to develop one of the most promising new techniques to kill cancer cells. Metal heats when exposed to radio waves, so his idea was to infuse tumors with microscopic metal particles, expose the body to radiofrequency energy, and hopefully kill the tumors when the metal inside them heats up from the radio wave exposure.
Kanzius’s technique proved highly effective in early preclinical trials at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. In lab experiments, two lines of liver cancer cells and one pancreatic cancer cell line were completely destroyed after being injected with nanotubes and exposed to radiofrequency energy. Carbon nanotubes are hollow cylinders of pure carbon that measure about a billionth of a meter, or one nanometer, across. A similar technique called radiofrequency ablation has been used for a number of years to treat tumors in the body. However, the novel technique developed by Kanzius makes radiofrequency cancer treatment much less damaging to surrounding tissue.
One problem, unfortunately, is that scientists don’t have an accurate method for targeting cancer cells. Researchers are currently in the process of searching for acceptable molecular targets in the tumor tissue onto which the nanotubes can bind. It has been difficult to find targets unique to cancer cells and researchers must resolve this issue before the nanotube technique can live up to its promise of being an effective and noninvasive procedure. For these reasons, the scientists believe that clinical trials are still three to four years away.
Stem cell research is currently in the spotlight, but this new technique reminds us both of the promise of other treatments under development, as well as the potential for nanotechnology in the medical sciences. The treatment, even though still at the preclinical stage, is evidence that even far-fetched scientific ideas can and do become successful.
Comments on this article
I am a HAM RADIO OPERATOR and read an article in this months QST magazine on John Kanzius and his possable cancer cure.
January 11th, 2008 at 9:45 pmMy step daughter has stage 4 cancer. We are desprate to find any means to help cure her…
She is a young 29 year old mother and we cannot just sit back and do nothing…If there is anything you can do or sugest we would be greatful.
I personally have been doing research and this nanotube theroy souds like the plan!
PLEASE IF YOU KNOW ANYTHINK THAT CAN HELP US PLEASE LET US KNOW.