New hope for cancer patients

TIME was a diagnosis of cancer is like a death sentence; a very sad reality that descends not only on the patient but more so for the relatives and friends who, for the most part be responsible for making whatever last few months or weeks or days as pleasant if not, as painless as possible for the patient. Making the situation depressing is the knowledge as well as awareness of the many various modalities the patient has to undergo,- surgery, radiation, chemotherapy- of course there’s always that prayer for a miraculous cure, but again, at the back of their minds, a reality of losing a loved one, sooner than later.

Hope springs eternal as they say; because just last week, scientist in Shanghai told the medical world they have made a breakthrough in researching an alternative to chemotherapy that would treat tumors in a safe, efficient way without side effects, that is zero side effects for patients. As reported by Mr. Zhou Wenting, a team from the Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, which is part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, announced that it has devised a therapy using inorganic, nontoxic nanoparticles that can travel around the body and target only tumors, leaving healthy cells unaffected. “Laboratory testing on mice has shown that tumors shrank by 85 percent after receiving the therapy,” said Dr. Shi Jianlin, lead researcher at the Institute.

For the test, researchers gave two nanoparticles- Fe3O4 and SiO2- and glucose oxidase through intravenous injection to mice. The particles target tumor cells owing to special microenvironment of acidity and high glucose content while the chemical compounds combined with trigger reactions in tum. Dr. Jianlin further said that his team of scientists has also created ananoparticle called Mg2Si, which is nontoxic in a neutral ph environment of healthy cells and only triggers a reaction in the acid environment of the tumor cells. The reaction will consume a large amount of oxygen molecules in the cell and block the vascular system in the tumor cells so as to prevent the supply of oxygen and nutrients from outside, so that eventually, the tumor cell will starve to death.

The particular advantage of nanoparticles is that they are small enough to enter the cytoplasm as well as they nucleus of the cells which makes treatment more precise and efficient. The team has agreed that indeed the research is still at the stage of the lab tests and in the future, it may have to pick the most applicable approach for clinical trials in actual cancer patients. A very encouraging bonus is the probability that nanoparticle-based therapy will prevent tumor metastasis or spread.

Let’s hope and pray that that day will come very soon!

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