'Micro-submarine' carries drugs to kill cancer cells

The new system acts like a microscopic submarine, capable of passing through the cell walls of cancerous tumors and releasing the drug itself.

Researchers at Radboud University, Netherlands, in a study published in the journal Angewandte Chemie, said they have developed a system capable of finding cancer cells and releasing drugs to kill harmful cells, according to Seeker.

Cancer cells can be destroyed using new drug delivery techniques.

Scientists use a type of microscopic bag synthesized in the laboratory. Introduced into the body from the vicinity of cancer cells, the drug bag reacts with certain chemicals to find the disease-causing cells.

The system works like a miniature submarine, powered by a chemical engine that uses the weak acid hydrogen peroxide as fuel. As the hydrogen peroxide breaks down, the drug capsule moves forward, penetrating the cancer cell wall and dissolving to release the drug.

The mechanism of drug self-release without external influence occurs when glutathione, a chemical agent often found in high concentrations in cancer cells, reacts with a substance that holds the drug inside the vesicle, breaking the covalent bonds of the S–S disulfide bridge, allowing the drug to be released.

The new technique could help doctors improve the way they deliver drugs to the exact desired location in a patient's body in the future.

According to Khoahoc.tv