Researchers at Duke University, are working on a plan of covering gold plated nanocells with drug-infused hydrogel coating. Nanocells have been used previously in killing of tumor cells. Gold plated nanocells heat up in presence of infrared light and thus kill the tumor cells in vicinity. The hydrogel coating, completely destroys all the tumor cells.

Solely using nanocells, is a targeted approach, which brings with it high risks associated with radiation. Hydrogel coated nanocell is a clean and harmless methods which work to do away with only the tumor cells, and not the healthy cells.

“The idea is to combine tumor-destroying heat therapy with localized drug delivery, so that you can hopefully have the most effective treatment possible,” said Jennifer West, who led the team responsible for developing the nanoshell technique in 2013. “And many chemotherapeutic drugs have been shown to be more effective in heated tissue, so there’s a potential synergy between the two approaches.”

Hydrogel coating contain chemotherapeutic drugs that are released slightly above body temperature. This experiment will be reconducted with live animals and human subjects a few months.

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Author:Technology Blog