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Monday, 23rd March 2009 (1906 views)

Hollow gold nanospheres could help lower the growing number of deaths caused by skin cancer, researchers have claimed.

According to a report issued at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society, tiny particles constructed from the precious metal can be filled with a special protein that draws the nanospheres towards harmful melanoma cells, enabling them to be destroyed with the use of near-infrared light.

Co-author of the study Jin Zhang of the University of California hailed the technique as "very promising and exiting", describing it as "basically like putting a cancer cell in hot water and boiling it to death".

He added that the method has already been tested on mice, with it being extended to humans when extensive toxicity studies have been carried out.

Similar work has also been carried out by Joseph Irudayaraj of Purdue University, who has developed a technique of tracking gold nanoparticles through the use of an MRI machine, Nanowerk News reports.

 

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