Singapore team finds nanotech way to treat cancer

RESEARCHERS in Singapore here have found a way to fight cancer that delivers drugs directly to diseased cells, minimising chemotherapy's painful side effects.

The Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology said yesterday that its team's new method involves a 'smart' nanocarrier technology and will 'vastly improve the way cancer patients are treated'.

This transports cancer drugs in particles that are less than 200 nanometres in size. A nanometre is a billionth of a metre, or roughly one-hundred-thousandth the diameter of a strand of human hair.

Currently, anti-cancer drugs are given using methods that indiscriminately kill both healthy and sick cells, said the project's lead scientist, Dr Yang Yi-Yan. This commonly produces side effects, such as nausea, fatigue and hair loss.

As more than 38,000 people here were diagnosed with cancer between 1998 and 2002, and 20,000 of them died of the disease, finding a more effective cancer therapy is crucial, Dr Yang said.

She and her colleagues, who began the research more than two years ago, have created nanocarriers that are sensitive to acidity or alkalinity, as well as temperature. They can home in on the slightly acidic conditions characteristic of cancer tumour tissues, and release the drugs there.

Dr Yang explained: 'The novelty of our invention compared to carriers that are only temperature sensitive is the ability of our nanoparticles to target drugs to deep tissues or cell compartments without changes in temperature.'

She said her researchers, who have tested their technology on small animals, hope to conduct clinical trials within five years.

from The Straits Times Interactive, March 22, 2005