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Tiny gold weapons may fight cancer
(Chicago Tribune (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) CHICAGO _ Extremely tiny gold particles may significantly boost gene-based treatments for cancer and other maladies, Northwestern University scientists say.
The research, published in this week's edition of the journal Science, is among the first fruits of a nanotechnology cancer center established last year at Northwestern. It concerns nanoparticles of gold that are attached to genetic material that scientists call "antisense DNA" because it works to block cell activity rather than promote it.
When antisense DNA is tied to commercial drugs such as Lipofectamine and Cytofectin, they decrease gene activity and reduce protein production, but tying the genetic material to gold nanoparticles is markedly more effective, Chad Mirkin, director of Northwestern's Center for Cancer Nanotechnology, said.
"It's like throwing a monkey wrench into the cell's machinery," said Mirkin. "When gold nanoparticles are coated with antisense DNA they're very dense and persist in the cell longer than free DNA does."
The studies were done at the cellular level in a lab, and Mirkin said much more work lies ahead before the technology can be tested in animals.
"This is very preliminary as a therapeutic, but it points to the possibility of new therapies and research tools to regulate gene expression, helping us understand how different biological systems work," he said.
Last fall Northwestern was awarded $3.9 million in federal funding to establish one of seven nanotech centers financed by the National Cancer Institute.
Nanotechnology refers to materials constructed at sizes under 100 billionths of a meter, which is on the molecular scale. Scientists find that such tiny materials have different properties from larger particles made from the same stuff.
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(c) 2006, Chicago Tribune.
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