Quantcast
ZME Science
  • CoronavirusNEW
  • News
  • Environment
    • Climate
    • Animals
    • Renewable Energy
    • Eco tips
    • Environmental Issues
    • Green Living
  • Health
    • Alternative Medicine
    • Anatomy
    • Diseases
    • Genetics
    • Mind & Brain
    • Nutrition
  • Future
  • Space
  • Feature
    • Feature Post
    • Art
    • Great Pics
    • Design
    • Fossil Friday
    • AstroPicture
    • GeoPicture
    • Did you know?
    • Offbeat
  • More
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Our stance on climate change
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science

No Result
View All Result
ZME Science
No Result
View All Result
Home Health & Medicine Diseases

Gold nanoparticles show new way to annihilate lymphoma cells without chemotherapy

Mihai Andrei by Mihai Andrei
January 22, 2013
in Diseases, Health & Medicine

How do you annihilate lymphoma cells without any chemoterapy or drugs at all? Simply by starving it of the thing it needs most – High-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol.

gold nanoparticleNorthwestern Medicine researchers discovered a method of treating lymphoma with a new nanoparticle that works as a double agent – it appears to the cancerous cells as ‘food’ (HDL), but when ingested, it actually plugs it up and blocks cholesterol from entering. Deprived of an essential nutrient, the cancerous cell can’t survive.

The study conducted by C. Shad Thaxton, M.D., and Leo I. Gordon, M.D. shows that synthetic HDL nanoparticles killed B-cell lymphoma, the most common form of the disease in human grown cells, and when tried on mice, it greatly prevents growth of human B-cell lymphoma. The paper was published yesterday, 21 January, in PNAS.

Initially, they tried this treatment as a supplement for already existing drugs, but soon after that, they used it on its own – only to find that the results are similar.

“We thought, ‘That’s odd. Why don’t we need the drug?'” Gordon recalled.

“This has the potential to eventually become a nontoxic treatment for B-cell lymphoma which does not involve chemotherapy,” said Gordon, a co-corresponding author with Thaxton on the paper. “It’s an exciting preliminary finding.”

The lymphoma cells are strictly dependent on natural HDL, from which they derive fat content. The created nanoparticle mimics the shape and size of HDL, but with a precious twist: it has a five nanometer gold particle at its core. After the particle attaches itself to the lymphoma, it acts on two levels: first of all it sucks out all the cholesterol with its spongy surface, and second, the gold core prevents it from absorbing more cholesterol. The results, researchers explain – are golden.

Get more science news like this...

Join the ZME newsletter for amazing science news, features, and exclusive scoops. More than 40,000 subscribers can't be wrong.

   

“At first I was heavily focused on developing nanoparticles that could remove cholesterol from cells, especially those involved in heart disease,” Thaxton said. “The lymphoma work has broadened this focus to how the HDL nanoparticles impact both the removal and uptake of cholesterol by cells. We discovered the particles are multi-taskers.”

They used gold because it is very compatible with living systems, but pretty much like every other treatment, as promising as the initial results are, more tests have to be carried until this can go clinical.

Via PNAS

Tags: cancercancer curelymphomalymphoma cureProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Mihai Andrei

Mihai Andrei

Andrei's background is in geophysics, and he's been fascinated by it ever since he was a child. Feeling that there is a gap between scientists and the general audience, he started ZME Science -- and the results are what you see today.

Follow ZME on social media

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
  • Coronavirus
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Feature
  • More

© 2007-2019 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Coronavirus
  • News
  • Environment
    • Climate
    • Animals
    • Renewable Energy
    • Eco tips
    • Environmental Issues
    • Green Living
  • Health
    • Alternative Medicine
    • Anatomy
    • Diseases
    • Genetics
    • Mind & Brain
    • Nutrition
  • Future
  • Space
  • Feature
    • Feature Post
    • Art
    • Great Pics
    • Design
    • Fossil Friday
    • AstroPicture
    • GeoPicture
    • Did you know?
    • Offbeat
  • More
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Our stance on climate change
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact

© 2007-2019 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.