According to the guardian, scientists are developing magnetic guided miniature "pellets" that can be injected into the blood of patients to attack breast cancer, prostate cancer and other tumors** The project is led by researchers at the University of Sheffield - building on progress in two key medical areas. The first involves viruses that specifically attack tumors. The second study focused on soil bacteria that make magnets.
Dr. munitta Muthana, one of the project leaders, said: "the essence of this method is straightforward: we are using bacteria as drugs. We are taking a kind of virus that naturally targets tumors and developing a method to help them reach internal tumors by using bacteria that make magnets. This is a two pronged approach, and we believe it has great prospects."
The anti-cancer virus being used by the University of Sheffield research team is called oncolytic virus, and they are funded by the British cancer research center. They exist naturally, but can also be modified to improve their efficacy and limit their chances of infecting healthy cells.
After infection with oncolytic virus, cancer cells will burst and die. The U.S. Food and drug administration has approved the use of t-vec, a modified herpes simplex virus that can infect and kill tumor cells. It is now used to treat some types of melanoma, a skin cancer.
However, the Sheffield team hopes to expand the range of tumors that can be solved in this way. Their work has just won the Roger Griffin cancer drug discovery award. In particular, they want to prioritize breast cancer and prostate cancer.
Another project leader, Dr faith Howard, said: "the problem is that oncolytic viruses will attract the attention of the human immune defense system. Before the virus is quickly blocked by our cellular defense system, only deep skin tumors can be solved in this way."
One solution, scientists say, is to wrap the virus in magnetic particles. After being injected into the blood, these tiny bullets can be quickly guided to the tumor - by using magnets placed on the patient's body - before their progress is blocked by the immune defense system.
"It's like having a armor or shield," Muthana added. "Magnets help protect viruses, but the key is that they also help them target tumors. If we put a magnet on the tumor, it will quickly lead the virus directly to it."
Howard added that the diameter of a oncolytic virus is about 180 nm, while the size of a magnet needs to be about 50 nm. "These tiny magnets can be made in the laboratory, but we found that bacteria do better than us in making them," she added.
Some types of soil bacteria synthesize iron oxide nanoparticles called magnetosomes. These are used as a compass to enable microorganisms to navigate the earth's magnetic field and help them find the best conditions for growth and survival. "These microscopic magnets they make are perfectly shaped and very suitable for the microscopic packaging we need for deep cancer," Howard said.
After developing the technology, the Sheffield team is now working to ensure that they can make enough supplies to start clinical trials in humans soon. So far, experiments have mainly focused on animal models. "These early tests are very encouraging, and we now need to take the next step to make this technology treatable for humans - hopefully in a few years," she said