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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Cancer drugs can have a lot of damaging side effects, so doctors would like to deliver them to tumor cells and nothing else. But once the drugs enter the body, it's hard to tell where they end up.
New research out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology could help solve the problem. Investigators there have developed tiny sensors called carbon nanotubes that are capable of detecting cancer drugs inside living cells. The sensors can pick up environmental toxins and free radicals that damage DNA as well.
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The nanotubes are coated with DNA, which makes it possible for them to safely enter the cells and interact with their target agents, like the cancer drugs. This interaction changes the way fluorescent light is emitted by the nanotube, and researchers use these changes to track activity in the cell.
"We can differentiate between different types of molecules depending on how they interact," study author Michael Strano was quoted as saying.
Fellow investigator Daniel Heller says the nanotubes can not only pinpoint cancer drugs, but also tell whether they are working. "You could figure out not only where the drugs are, but whether a drug is active or not," he was quoted as saying.
The researchers plan to continue their work on the sensors and cancer drugs, and will also look at whether they can track the activity of health-boosting antioxidants, such as those found in green tea and other foods.
SOURCE: Nature Nanotechnology, published online December 14, 2008
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