Nanotechnology Identifies Brain Tumors Through Virtual Biopsy Technology

Biomedical researchers from Cedars-Sinai recently developed a small drug-delivery system that can identify cancer-cell types in the brain via “virtual biopsies” and then attack the molecular structure of the disease. The drug delivery system and its components, together called a nanobioconjugate, or nanodrug, is in an emerging class of molecular drugs designed to slow or stop cancers by blocking them in multiple ways within the brain. The drug is about 20 to 30 nanometers in size — a fraction of a human hair, which is 80,000 to 100,000 nanometers wide. The results of this study show that this technology could potentially be used to deliver nano-scale drugs in humans that can distinguish and fight tumor cells in the brain without resorting to surgery. “Our nanodrug can be engineered to carry a variety of drugs, proteins and genetic materials to attack tumors on several fronts from within the brain,” said the lead researcher of the study. “Each component serves a specialized function, such as seeking out cancer cells and binding to them, permeating the walls of blood vessels and tumor cells, or dismantling molecular mechanisms that promote tumor growth.” To read more about this study, click here.